


COPYRICHT DEPOSIT 
























































































Other Books by Elise Lathrop 


&&>&> 

EARLY AMERICAN INNS AND TAVERNS 
WHERE SHAKESPEARE SET HIS STAGE 
SUNNY DAYS IN ITALY 











































. 




























Home of Postmaster 
and American. 


General Gideon Granger, and later of many notable men, British 
It is now occupied by the Arts Club of Washington, D. C. 


































HISTORIC HOUSES 

of 

EARLY AMERICA 


By }eilee Xatbrop 



Illustrated 


“ All houses wherein men have lived and died 
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors 
T he harmless phantoms on their errands glide 
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.” 

The Builders — Longfellow 


ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY 
NEW YORK ■ MCM XXVII 

















COPYRIGHT, 1927 

BY ROBERT M. MCBRIDE & COMPANY 




First published, October, 1927 


s 


HISTORIC HOUSES OF EARLY AMERICA 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATE9 OF AMERICA 


DEC1377 


©Cl A1010873 




Helen, Mabel, and Tony 

WHO ALL HELPED GREATLY 
























Preface 


The author does not pretend that all early houses in the United 
States are included in this volume. Had this been done, it would have 
been necessary to list so many that the book would either have resem¬ 
bled a mere index, or have been extended far beyond the number of 
pages convenient for one volume. 

As a rule, only such old houses are included as have interesting 
stories connected with them, or those which have been the homes of 
interesting and famous people. A few have been mentioned whose 
chief claim to distinction is their age, but only when this itself is re¬ 
markable. 

Nor does the author claim that all of the old houses in the United 
States with interesting histories have been included} merely those 
which to her seem the most interesting. The omissions have been made 
chiefly because the houses, though interesting, were too modern to come 
properly in the book’s field. Very few of those included are less than 
a century and a half in age, and many are much older. 

Since many of these houses have been taken over by historical or 
family associations, all buildings to which the public is admitted, either 
gratis or on payment of a small fee, have been marked in the index 
with an asterisk. 



e¥> Acknowledgments 


In addition to many Chambers of Commerce, Historical and Patriotic 
Societies, librarians, postmasters, etc., thanks are due to the fol¬ 
lowing: 

Mrs. W. F. Adams, Misses Lena Barksdale, Patten Beard ; Mr. and Mrs. Edward 
Bennett, Miss Fanny P. Brown, Mmes. A. P. Burnham, L. S. Cox, Messrs. W. H. 
Crawshaw, Frederick R. Curtis, William L. Deyn, Miss Florence Dillard, 
Messrs. C. Frank Dunn, George Francis Dow, James L. Eisenberg; Editor of 
the Vineyard Haven Gazette; Mrs. Ewing R. Emison, Mr. Frank Eno, Mrs. 
Vivien Minor Fleming, Mrs. W. B. Folsom; Messrs. James Thayer Gerould, 
Wm. M. Gerhart; Mrs. J. Cooke Grayson; Messrs. John B. Hicks, Galen W. 
Hill, John E. Hinman; Miss Ethel G. Hoyle; Mrs. James E. Irvine, Misses 
Ella C. Lindeberg, Bertha H. Lyman, Anne V. Mann, Eleanor Morehouse; 
Messrs. Wm. Z. Mahon, Jesse Merritt, Lloyd Minturn Mayer, Geo. B. 
McCormick, Everett S. Meloon, Percy Chase Miller; Dr. Ellis P. Ober- 
holzer; Misses Johanna Peter, Jane Pratt; Messrs. J. S. Price, W. F. Putnam, 
M. H. Randall, Edward H. Redstone; Mmes. James Ross, A. G. A. Saunders, 
Edward Shoemaker, Chas. H. Shuart; Misses M. J. Smith, L. G. Stoney; Mr. 
P. B. Stinson, Mrs. Suydam; Dr. Charles H. L. Wilcox, Messrs. H. L. Willet, 
William F. Worner, and many others for great assistance. 


% 


▼111 




eW Contents 


CHAPTER 1 . The Oldest Surviving House in the United States 3 

Rival claimants to this title. The Geronimo Alvarez house, the Governor’s 
Palace and the Treasury Building, St. Augustine, Florida. The first 
American apartment house; Tiguez house and the Palace of the Gov¬ 
ernors, Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

CHAPTER II . The First European Settlement ... 14. 

The fort on Parris Island, South Carolina. Beaufort’s old houses and 
those in Charles Towne. 

CHAPTER III. Early Charlestonians } Country Estates . 40 

The river plantations, and some in the “ up country.” 

CHAPTER IV. The First English Settlement ... 66 

All that is left of Jamestown, Virginia. Philip Ludwell’s “ country 
house.” Interesting homes in Williamsburg, Yorktown and the vicinity. 
Richmond and a few James River estates. 

CHAPTER V. Pioneer Homes in Virginia, and Their Ghosts 100 

Charlottesville and early settlers in Albemarle County. Monticello. 

CHAPTER VI. Houses Connected with the Washington 

Family and Other Virginia Estates . . . . .121 

Fredericksburg and her historic homes. Gunston Hall, the home of 
George Mason; the Carlyle house, Alexandria. Mt. Vernon and other 
nearby estates. Washington, D. C., and the oldest houses. 

CHAPTER VII. The Earliest Colonial Houses Now Standing 153 

Dorchester, Massachusetts; Paul Revere’s house, Boston; Quincy, the 
Dorothy Q. and Adams houses; Duxbury and Kingston, with the John 
Alden, Bradford and Miles Standish houses; Plymouth’s interesting 
trio. Cape Cod. 





X 


Contents 

CHAPTER VIII. The Roy all Mansion and Slave Quarters . 181 

A group of Cambridge, Concord and Lexington homes. The Royall house 
at Medford. 


CHAPTER IX. The Witches and Indians .... 203 

Salem’s fascinating old residences. Beverly and the Cabots; the Balch 
homestead. Across to Deerfield and Williamstown. The “ Redeemed 
Captive.” 


CHAPTER X. New Bedford and the Early Fishermen . 229 

Survivors in New Bedford, and on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. 

Little Rhody’s old houses. 

CHAPTER XI. Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns . 250 

Quaint Marblehead; Ipswich; Gloucester and Cape Ann; the Witch’s 
House. Newburyport and a remarkable survivor. 

CHAPTER XII. The First American Baronet and His Home 268 

Portsmouth, N. H., and homes of famous men; the first house with a 
lightning rod. A few New Hampshire and Vermont homes of interest. 

Kittery, Me., and the first American Baronet; Kennebunk; the Longfel¬ 
low house, Portland; Wiscasset, and a planned royal refuge. 

CHAPTER XIII. Stories Thrilling and Romantic in 

Connecticut . . . . . . . . .286 

The patriotic Governor Trumbull. Almost a heroine. Along the old Post 
Road. Where the British landed. The Stolen Boy. 


CHAPTER XIV. In Old New York . 

Houses with histories in New York City and State. 

CHAPTER XV. New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s Historic Old 
Houses ......... 

Elizabeth and the Carterets. Princeton. Philadelphia’s many houses now 
preserved by the city, and others. Historic Pennsylvania towns. 


315 


358 


CHAPTER XVI. Homes of the Pioneers .... 

A few old houses in Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. Indian treaties 
and attacks. 


387 


Contents ^5 xi 

CHAPTER XVII. Caesar Rodney , the Rider . . . 398 

Delaware’s famous son; the Ridgely family and others. 

CHAPTER XVIII. Maryland, the Palatinate y and Her 

Mansions .418 

Early houses of Annapolis, Baltimore and the environs. The Eastern 
Shore. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 445 

A RECORD OF HISTORIC HOUSES BY TOWNS 
AND STATES.453 








Illustrations 


Home of Postmaster General Gideon Granger, Washington, D. C. 
A Room in the “ Oldest House,” St. Augustine, Fla. 

The “ Oldest House in America ” ..... 

Communal Dwelling, Frijoles Canyon .... 

One of the Cliff Dwellings, Frijoles Canyon . 

The Old House, Santa Fe, N. M. . 

The Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe, N. M. , . . 

Hill Crest, Stateburg, S. C. . . s i . . 

The Horry House, Charleston, S. C. , . . 

The Miles Brewton House, Charleston, S. C. . 

Live Oak Avenue, Tomotley Plantation , , 

The Lord Campbell House, Charleston, S. C. . . , 

The Governor Rutledge House, Charleston, S. C. , . 

The Governor Bennett House, Charleston, S. C. , , 

The Washington House, Charleston, S. C. 

Medway, near Charleston, S. C. . , , , 

Fenwick Castle, John’s Island, S. C. . . , 

Mulberry Castle, on the Cooper River, S. C. . 

Tazewell Hall, Williamsburg, Va. ..... 

The Moore House, Yorktown, Va. ..... 

Home of John Blair, Williamsburg, Va. .... 

Home of the Hon. Peyton Randolph, Williamsburg, Va. 

Carter’s Grove, Virginia ...... 

The Garden of the Poe Memorial, Richmond, Va. 

The Poe Memorial, Richmond, Va. ..... 

Parlor in Home of Chief Justice Marshall, Richmond, Va. 
Dining Room in the Home of Chief Justice Marshall 
The James River near Westover ..... 

The Iron Gates of Westover ...... 

The “ White House of the Confederacy,” Richmond, Va. . 
Westover on the James River, Va. ..... 

Brandon, Richmond, Va. ...... 

Monticello, Charlottesville, Va. ..... 


PAGE 

Frontispiece 

4 

4 

5 
5 

. 12 
12 
13 
13 

, 16 

17 
17 

32 

33 
33 

, 48 

49 

. 49 

, 68 
68 
69 
69 

76 

77 
77 
80 

80 

81 
81 
81 

96 

97 


xm 








XIV 


e¥ Illustrations 


PACE 

A Room in Monticello , . . . . . . .113 

A Cottage at Clover Fields, Charlottesville, Va. .. . . 113 

The Jowett Tavern, Charlottesville, Va. . , . .113 

The Washington Mantel, Kenmore, Fredericksburg, Va. . . .144 

Wall Paper of the Dorothy Q. House, Quincy, Mass. . . .160 

The John Alden House, Duxbury, Mass. ...... 161 

Kitchen of the John Alden House . . . . . . .161 

The Myles Standish House, Duxbury, Mass. . . . . .176 

A Room in the John and Abigail Adams Cottage, Quincy, Mass. . .176 

The “Hooked Rug” House, Provincetown, Mass. . . . .177 

The Fairbanks House, Dedham, Mass. . . , . .177 

The Kitchen, Hancock-Clark House, Lexington, Mass. . , ,182 

The Drawing Rooms, Royall House, Medford, Mass. . . , .183 

Staircase of the Royall House . . . . . . ,183 

The Royall House . . . . . . , . , 186 

The Slave Quarters, Royall House . . . . . . .187 

Clifford’s Bedroom, House of Seven Gables 208 

House of Seven Gables, Salem, Mass. ...... 208 

The Hathaway House, Salem, Mass. ...... 209 

Retire Becket House, Salem, Mass. ...... 209 

The Frary House, Deerfield, Mass. ...... 224 

The Willard House, Deerfield, Mass. ...... 224 

The Williams House, Deerfield, Mass. . . . . . .225 

The Hazard House, Newport, R. I. .. . . . . . . 232 

“Old Vernon House,” Newport, R. I. . . . . . 232 

The Sargent-Murray-Gilman House, Gloucester, Mass. . . . 256 

The Sargent Room ......... 257 

Stairway, Sargent-Murray-Gilman House ..... 262 

The Lee Mansion, Marblehead, Mass. ...... 262 

The Witch House, Pigeon Cove, Mass. ...... 263 

The Riggs House, Cape Ann, Mass. 263 

The Swett-Isley House, Newburyport, Mass. ..... 266 

Fireplace, Swett-Isley House 267 

King Hooper House, Marblehead, Mass. ...... 267 

Jackson House, Portsmouth, N. H. . . . . . , . 276 

The Warner House, Portsmouth, N. H. . . . . . .276 

Drawing Room, Moffet-Ladd House ...... 277 

Mantel in the Moffet-Ladd House ...... 277 

Stairway in the Home of the Historical Association, Portsmouth, N. H. 284 







Illustrations 


xv 


PAGE 

Stairway of the Moffet-Ladd House ...... 284 

Garrison House, Dover, N. H. , . . . . . . 285 

The Sir William Pepperell House, Portsmouth, N. H. . . .285 

Moffet-Ladd House, Portsmouth, N. H. . . , , 285 

The Acadian House, Guilford, Conn. ...... 304 

The Captain Dayton House, Bethany, Conn. ..... 305 

Cellar of Governor Leet’s House, Guilford, Conn. . . . , 305 

Van Cortlandt House, New York City . . . . . .324 

The Lady Deborah House, Brooklyn, N. Y. . . . . .325 

Walt Whitman’s Birthplace, Huntington, L. I. . . . 332 

Washington’s Headquarters, Newburgh, N. Y. . . . . .332 

The Hamilton Room, Schuyler Mansion, Albany, N. Y. . . *333 

The Schuyler Mansion . . . . . . . . - 333 

The Upper Hall, Schuyler Mansion ...... 336 

The Lower Hall .......... 336 

The Schenck House, Mill Island, Brooklyn, N. Y. . . . *337 

The Memorial House, New Paltz, N. Y. . . . . .337 

The Bevier House, New Paltz, N. Y. . . . . . .352 

A House in Old Hurley, N. Y. . . . . , .352 

The Abraham Hasbrouck House, New Paltz, N. Y. . . . . 353 

Home of Louis de Bois, New Paltz, N. Y. . . . , . *353 

Morven, Princeton, N. J. . . . . . . . .372 

Waynesborough, Paoli, Penn. ........ 373 

Reconstructed Old High Street, Philadelphia . . . .380 

Hall in the Benedict Arnold House, Philadelphia, Penn. . . 381 

The Stairway in Stenton Mansion . . . . , .384 

Stenton Mansion, Stenton, Penn. . . . . . . .384 

The “ Flag House ” Home of Betsey Ross, Philadelphia, Penn. . . 385 

Ashland, Lexington, Ky. . . . . . . . .392 

Chaumiere, Lexington, Ky. ........ 393 

The Harrison House, Vincennes, Ind. ...... 393 

Eden Farm, Dover, Del. . . . . . , . .416 

Amstel House, New Castle, Del. . . . , . . .416 

Ridgely House, Dover, Del. . . . . , . . .417 

Mt. Clare, Carroll Park, Baltimore, Md. . . . . .432 

Dining Room, Mt. Clare . . . . , . . -433 

George Read House, New Castle, Del. 433 

Dining Room, Hope ......... 440 

Hope, Easton, Md. . . . . . . . . . 440 






















































































































































































































































































































































HISTORIC HOUSES 

OF EARLY AMERICA ^ 
















Chapter I 

6^ The Oldest Surviving House 

in the United States ^5 


I f one were asked offhand where the oldest house in the United 
States might be found, the chances are that one of two answers would 
be given: either that it must be somewhere near that spot in Virginia 
where the first English colonists landed, or in Massachusetts, possibly 
in Plymouth, where the Pilgrims, after landing on Cape Cod, made 
their first permanent settlement. 

Either or both answers would be wrong. For the oldest house in 
the United States one must go much further south or west. Nor will 
it be easy to decide between at least three rival claimants for this dis¬ 
tinction. 

St. Augustine, Florida, claims it, as a placard on one house there 
announces. This house is now occupied by the St. Augustine Institute 
of Science and Historical Society, but even after much investigation, 
the Society is unable to fix definitely the exact date of its building, al¬ 
though they have proved that it is very old. 

Tradition ascribes at least a portion of this attractive building to 
monks who came with Menendez in 1565, and asserts that the house 
was the chapel and hermitage of these monks. Charles A. Reynolds, 
who has written a pamphlet about “ The Oldest House in America,” 
— not this but another claimant — asserts that “ there were no Fran¬ 
ciscans in St. Augustine in 1565, although there was a fortified camp.” 
The Historian and Librarian of the Historical Society, Miss Emily L. 
Wilson, has furnished much information acquired after investigating 

3 



4 


Historic Houses of Early America 


old Spanish documents, but first a bit of history may not be unwel¬ 
come. 

Ponc^ de Leon landed on the coast of Florida in 1512, but he made 
no settlement then, nor on his return some nine years later, at which 
time he found the Indians fiercely hostile, lost some of his men, and 
was himself taken back on shipboard with an arrow wound from which 
he later died. 

It remained for French Huguenots to make the first settlement. 

In 1562, Jean Ribaut landed with a body of colonists on Parris 
Island, South Carolina, and two years later, sent Laudonniere, one of 
the leaders, to build a fort on St. Johns River, Florida, which fort he 
called Caroline. Later, Ribaut himself went and took command there. 
In 1565 the Spaniard, Don Pedro Menendez de Ayllon, landed on the 
Florida coast, and built a fort within the present city limits of St. 
Augustine, “ on an islet next to and close to the one where they are 
now,” according to a translated letter of Dr. Caceres, written in 1574. 
The fort was moved to its present site in 1566. 

The Spaniards decided to wipe out Ribaut’s settlement, surprised 
the inhabitants, and butchered several hundred of them, some say all 
but eight, on the plea that they were exterminating “ heretics.” They 
even set up a monument stating: “ I do not do this as to Frenchmen 
but as to Lutherans.” This act was not approved by the French of the 
Catholic faith, and in 1567, the Chevalier Dominique de Gourges, a 
Gascon Catholic nobleman, attacked St. Augustine, and inflicted the 
same treatment on its inhabitants as had Menendez on those of Fort 
Caroline. De Gourges then set up a board, on which was inscribed: “ I 
did not do this as to Spaniards, nor as to infidels, but as to traitors, 
thieves and murderers.” 

Laudonniere had described the Indians whom he found in the 
vicinity of St. Johns River as kind hearted, fine appearing people. 
“ Both men and women were clean in their persons and in their 
homes — their women dressed in soft skins, ornamented, and some 
with woven garments, were as handsome as any of the European 
women, and even Christian whites would not have been kinder to these 




Harris Pictures, St. Augustine, tla . 


An old room in the “ oldest house,” St. Augustine, Florida, and one of three claimants 
to be the oldest house in the United States. The picture shows the original old beams 
in the ceiling, beneath the plaster which, although old, was added long after the house 

was built. 



Harris Pictures , St. Augustine, Fla. 


The “ oldest house in America.” If not positively that, it seems certain that it is the 
second oldest, and many believe that it is truly entitled to its claim of oldest. Now the 
home of the St. Augustine, Florida, Historical Association. 













Photo courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce , Santa Fe t N. M. 

Ruins of the Communal Dwelling, Frijoles Canyon, Bandolier National Monument, 
near Santa Fc, New Mexico. This is called the first apartment house in America. 



Photo courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce, Santa Fe, N. M. 


One of the Cliff Dwellings, Frijoles Canyon, Bandolier National Monument, near 
Santa Fc, New Mexico. This shows the tiers of dwellings cut in the side of the cliffs, 
occupied by an almost prehistoric race. 




6^ The Oldest Surviving House 


5 


Frenchmen than were these Indians, who up to that time, had never 
seen a white man.” Laudonniere further wrote that they “ made two 
crops a year, corn and peas, and had many kinds of fruits, and lived, 
each family, in its log and mud huts.” 1 

St. Augustine then was founded in 1565, and when the English 
under Sir Francis Drake attacked and burned it in 1586, a map drawn 
by one of Drake’s men shows that there was at that time a cluster of 
houses near or on what is now St. Francis Street, on which stands the 
house of Geronimo Alvarez, quarters to-day of the Historical Society. 
Furthermore, when the English took full possession of St. Augustine 
in 1763, one historian reported seeing a house with the date: 1571 
upon it. 

In their researches, the Society has found the report of the Spanish 
Governor, written after Moore’s attack upon the city in 1702. This 
report mentions that “ some of the houses were saved,” and asking for 
money for repairs, he particularly mentions the Governor’s house, the 
St. Francis convent and the Treasury building. The Society also 
possesses letters from a Spanish Governor, proving that the fort now 
standing was completed in 1690, at which time he employed slaves 
to K rebuild the official houses with stone, as they are built of wood, 
and in bad condition.” The first stories of these houses were then built 
of “ tabique,” probably the same as the South Carolina tabby, with 
“ thin walls and roof of shingles, as is customary in this province.” 
He also mentions that the Governor’s house was the first in the prov¬ 
ince. This building is now the Post Office, the Treasury building is 
owned privately. The wooden roofs of all three were burned during 
Moore’s attack. 

In 1884, the Geronimo Alvarez house, which apparently may 
justly claim the title of oldest in St. Augustine, or share it with that 
of the present Post Office, was bought by an American for a residence, 
the Spanish family which then owned it thinking it so old as to be 
valueless. The new owner covered the interior walls with wood, which 
the Historical Society, when they took possession a couple of years 

1 Mr. N. L. Willet, in a pamphlet on Beaufort County, S. C. 



6 


Historic Houses of Early America 


ago, had removed, baring the old stone walls, the hand-hewn beams 
of the ceilings. Miss Wilson describes the floors of the lower story 
as of tabby or coquina, “ crushed and pounded to a depth of two feet 
with salt water.” The present plan of this first story is the same as 
shown on a map made in 1788. The Society is now trying to get 
documents from Spain which will establish the ownership of the house 
prior to 1763, when they have the record of its transfer from one 
Hernandez to Jesse Fish. Miss Wilson herself, and she has made ex¬ 
tensive investigations, believes that this house was indeed built as early 
as 1571 for the monks who came with Menendez, and that the coquina 
was put on about 1600. The Historical Society possesses a record of the 
building in 1598 of “a powder house of stone, a mile from the city,” 
as ordered by the Governor at that time, showing that stone or coquina 
was already being used. 

The three other houses claiming to be the oldest here, the Worth, 
Don Toledo and Dodge houses, are believed by careful investigators to 
date from about 1801-3, with the possible exception of the Worth 
house, which may have been built in 1791, and on the site of an older 
one. 

The Governor’s house, now the Post Office, has been much re¬ 
modeled by both English and American Governments. The old Treas¬ 
ury still has a second story with wooden walls, and a balcony on the 
garden side, as has the “ Oldest House,” but beams and ceilings of the 
former are not so old, as it has evidently been more extensively re¬ 
paired. Miss Wilson is convinced that these three were standing in 
1690. The type of these is a lower story of coquina or tabby, an 
upper one of wood, with balcony overlooking the garden. Before 1690, 
stone for building purposes was allowed only to the Governors, then 
members of the Menendez family. Furthermore, as'establishing the 
legitimate claim of the “ oldest house ” to be such, the Society owns a 
copy of a petition addressed to the Congress of the United States in 
1824, by a number of the descendants of early Spanish families, 
asserting that their u descent was so well-known that it would be a 
waste of time for the Government to make them prove their titles,” 



The Oldest Surviving House ^5 


7 


which latter went back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Among those 
signing this petition were Geronimo Alvarez and his son, Antonio. 

The type of these houses somewhat resembles that of many old 
Charleston, South Carolina, residences. Very solid are the timbers used 
in the construction of the “ Oldest House.” The stone walls added 
later are broken in places, revealing solid timbers beneath, and the 
ceiling beams are equally substantial. 

It seems quite probable then that this house was built originally 
for the Franciscans, and after they moved into a larger convent, was 
owned privately. When the English obtained possession of Florida, the 
Spaniards were given a year in which to sell their property, but a 
number of old families, not wishing to sell, transferred their houses 
and estates “ in confidence ” to Jesse Fish, among these families being 
descendants of Ponce de Leon and of Menendez. When Florida re¬ 
turned to Spanish ownership, the old Spanish descendants returned as 
well, and demanded back their property. With the King’s consent, the 
Governor agreed to sell them back their homes at auction, if they had 
not already purchased them. When the houses were thus auctioned off 
to the original owners, the King of Spain held a mortgage on the prop¬ 
erties until, in 1801, this was cancelled, and a clear title given the 
owners. Among these was Don Geronimo Alvarez, who later signed 
the petition to Congress, and the deed which Alvarez received at the 
time of the auction, in 1789, describes the house as built of coquina and 
wood. 

All visitors to St. Augustine, in addition to the old houses, will 
be interested in the venerable fort, which, built solidly of coquina, in 
1690 replaced two earlier wooden forts. The tablet affixed by Governor 
Alonzo Fernandez de Herreda, stating that the fort was finished in 
1756, alludes rather to the completion of changes and repairs made. 
Named Fort Marion in 1821, and now a national monument, this old 
fort has witnessed thrilling scenes; has been attacked by the English 
both with and without Indian allies, and has been under the flags of 
Spain, England, the United States and the Confederacy. Famous 
Indian chiefs, the Wild Cat and Osceola, and sixty-three patriots, in- 



8 


Historic Houses of Early America ^9 


eluding three Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Arthur 
Middleton, Edward Rutledge and Thomas Heyward, Junior, have 
been imprisoned here, together with David Ramsay, Revolutionary 
historian, and Lieutenant Governor Christopher Gadsden, the latter 
kept in a dark dungeon for almost a year. Here is a secret dungeon 
whose existence had been forgotten until it was re-discovered by two 
American officers in 1835j here are the hot shot oven, and an odd, 
irregular but massive archway beside the broad, low stone steps which 
lead to the ramparts. 

Leaving St. Augustine, one must travel far westward to find the 
next claimant to be “ the oldest house in the United States.” 

Aside from the possible date of two such claimants within the 
present capital city of New Mexico, Santa Fe, there exists at no great 
distance a collection of dwellings whose exact age no one has yet deter¬ 
mined, and which Santa Fe styles “ the first apartment house in Amer¬ 
ica.” This claim can hardly be contested. 

In the Canyon of the Rito de los Frijoles, but a pleasant drive 
from Santa Fe, these prehistoric ruins yearly attract scientists for 
purposes of study, as well as many tourists. Fortunately the ruins 
are to be preserved, for in 1916, President Wilson set aside the land on 
which are the most important ones as a national monument, and it bears 
the name of the scientist who first investigated and explored them, 
Adolph F. Bandelier. Those who visit them must leave motors or 
carriages at the top of the canyon, and by a steep path climb for some 
six hundred feet, either on foot or donkey back, down into the bottom 
of the canyon, where the Rito de los Frijoles has its course. 

From the bottom one may gaze up at the ruins, the houses of 
several stories, built into the side of the cliff, at the strange ceremonial 
chamber, with its altar and opening in the roof to carry off smoke, or 
if willing to do more climbing, up ladders in some cases, may stand 
within the actual walls of a number of these dwellings, for the most 
important ones have been excavated under the direction of the School 
of American Research and the United States Forest Service. 

Since there are Indian 'pueblos of the present day laid out quite 



The Oldest Surviving House ^§5 


9 


in the manner of these ruins, some antiquarians declare that the Indians 
of New Mexico to-day are the direct descendants of these cliff dwellers. 
It is known that when the first Spaniards came to this part of the 
country, in 1595, or perhaps earlier, they found the remnants of 
Indian 'pueblos near where they laid out the city of Santa Fe. Ralph 
Emerson Twitchell, who has written a number of books and pamphlets 
on this section of the country and its history, states that in his opinion, 
none of the pueblos on the site of Santa Fe was inhabited when the 
Spaniards arrived. If so — for other historians dispute this — then the 
claims of a certain building in Santa Fe to be the “ oldest house in 
America,” — and barring as not strictly speaking a house, the cliff 
dwelling — are not positively to be maintained, but another very old 
residence bases its claim upon more definite data. 

Close to the very ancient San Miguel church there stands to-day 
a house built as are hundreds of houses occupied now by Mexicans in 
this southwestern country, of adobe, its low, flat roof grass grown, its 
windows and door openings now barricaded to preserve it as long as 
possible, and exclude tramps or children at play. Originally of two 
stories, as an old picture shows, there now remains but one. 

Residents of Santa Fe say that this house was once the dwelling 
of the Indian chief of Tiguez, the pueblo which once stood on the 
site of San Miguel church, and of other houses in this part of the city. 
Some dispute the assertion that Tiguez stood on this site. However, 
it is claimed that Coronado found this house standing when, at the 
head of 1100 men, he visited this country in 1540. He is also said to 
have made this house his headquarters until his return to Mexico in 
1543 - 

Local tradition goes further, and asserts that on the site of San 
Miguel, generally conceded to be the oldest church in the United 
States, for although repaired and partly re-built from time to time, 
much of the original structure remains, a church was built at the time of 
this early visit. Some believe that Spaniards under Espejo founded at 
least a temporary settlement here at that time. Almost everyone agrees 
that there were pueblos here, but the date of the Spaniards’ arrival, and 



10 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


whether or not they made any kind of a settlement is disputed. They 
did find a system of irrigation, and a people skilled in agriculture, 
acquainted with the cultivation of cotton, the weaving of cotton and 
woolen fabrics. 

One can find a date varying not more than ten years according to 
historians, for the building of the interesting old Palace of the Gov¬ 
ernors, now a museum. The story of these early days is romantic and 
thrilling. 

Onate, the Spaniard, married the granddaughter of Montezuma, 
and in 1598 came here from Mexico “ with 83 ox-wagons, 7,000 cattle, 
and 400 colonists,” as Charles F. Lummis tells in an attractive booklet 
issued by the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce. First settling where 
Chamita now stands, Onate, with a party of his soldiers, stood off 
savage Indians, and explored the country as far as what is now Ne¬ 
braska, marched over the deserts to the Gulf of California, and back 
again, then removed the settlement which he had founded thirty miles 
north to what is now Santa Fe. Save that Twitchell puts the date of 
the founding of Santa Fe at ten years later, or 1608, the two accounts 
agree fairly well. 

He also explains that the church of San Miguel, and houses for 
Indian servants were built on one side of the river, the Royal Palace, 
which was also to serve as fortress on the other side, but makes no 
mention of the old house of Tiguez. 

Whichever date is preferred, even the latest, 1609, makes this 
at least the second oldest surviving house in the United States, pro¬ 
vided that the house in St. Augustine was built in 1571. 

The royal palace then was built either in 1609, or a few years 
earlier, its 'presidio enclosed by an adobe wall. The original wall was 
400 feet in length, with a tower at each end, the eastern one for a 
chapel, the western for storing ammunition. Adjoining the western 
tower were the dungeons. 

The palace itself was about 120 feet long, its depth varying from 
twenty to seventy-five feet, with a portal fifteen feet wide. It contained 
a great courtroom, sixty feet long} the roof was supported by massive 



The Oldest Surviving House ^5 


11 


pine beams, the woodwork rough and heavy, and the floors were of 
dirt. The building itself was of adobe. There was a garden, and a 
small irrigation ditch supplied palace and garden with water. By 1617 
there were probably, according to Mr. Twitchell, only forty-eight 
Spanish soldiers in the whole of this territory, and most of these lived 
in the palace fortress. 

The Indians had been friendly enough, but the Spaniards tried 
to convert them forcibly to the Christian religion, and whippings and 
other punishments inflicted did not tend to keep relations cordial. 
Finally they killed some of the Spaniards, and in 1680 the Indian 
Pope headed a revolt, sending those messages of knotted yucca cord to 
Indians in outlying 'pueblos', messages both swift and effective. 

Fortunately for the Spaniards, they got news of the proposed up¬ 
rising before it came off, or they might all have been surprised and 
killed. As it was, the Indians attacked three days before they had 
originally planned, and killed more than four hundred of the twenty- 
five hundred settlers, soldiers and friars then in the territory. Refugees 
came in from other Spanish settlements, and took refuge in the Palace 
of the Governors. The enemy succeeded in cutting the water supply, 
and after being besieged for a week in the palace fortress, a band of 
a thousand, the surviving Spaniards, made a sortie, and fighting fiercely, 
succeeded in escaping across the desert, eventually arriving at El 
Paso del Norte, what is now El Paso, Texas. The Indians were left 
masters in Santa Fe, occupied the palace, but did not destroy it. 
Instead, they set up a ceremonial chamber or Kiva in the court, and 
made some changes in the interior construction. 

Not until 1693, when Diego de Vargas recaptured Santa Fe, did 
the Spaniards return. The following December, one hundred soldiers, 
seventeen missionaries, and seventy families came back from El Paso, 
and settled. The Spaniards were now firmly entrenched, repaired the 
old palace, re-built the ruined churches, and dominated the country. 

In 1708, a Viceroy reported that when he took possession, he 
found “ five broken pine benches, six chairs, some without backs, two 
ordinary tables, two plain bedsteads with pine slats, and a big copper 



12 


Historic Houses of Early America 


kettle, burned and battered,” as furniture of the palace. This was all 
except ten keys! 

In 1744, the entire palace was restored and rebuilt, but some of 
the original timbers supporting the old roof are in place to this day. 
All of the windows at this time were glazed, something then almost 
unknown from Chihuahua to the Mississippi River. 

Incidentally, Santa Fe has had experience with many govern¬ 
ments, having been ruled by Spaniards, Indians, Mexicans and Ameri¬ 
cans, while for one week the Confederates occupied the town, and 
their flag floated over the old palace. 

This was until very recent times always the residence of the 
Governor, to whatever nationality he belonged. A small cemetery was 
originally connected with the palace, and in the dungeons now gone, 
Indians as well as noted Spaniards and later Americans have been 
imprisoned. The Spanish general who re-captured the city from the 
Indians, Don Diego de Vargas, was one of these prisoners, charged 
with many crimes of which he was later acquitted by his sovereign, 
Phillip III of Spain. The Americans were imprisoned under charge of 
violating the Spanish laws, and entering the province for trade pur¬ 
poses. They were not wanted in Santa Fe in those days. Among 
these prisoners was David Merriwether, later governor of the ter¬ 
ritory. Another, in 1807, was Major Zebulon M. Pike, of the United 
States Army, who was detained a prisoner in the palace by the Span¬ 
ish authorities. 

In the course of time, some of the original decorations were re¬ 
moved from the palace walls j festoons of the ears of Indians slain in 
the course of frequent fierce fighting, and which horrible ornamentation 
was arranged over doors and windows of rooms used for public busi¬ 
ness. 

Here in this palace when, in 1851, Santa Fe became United States 
territory, many prominent natives were tried, and a few sentenced to 
be hanged for insurrection. Here lived the first American Governor, 
James H. Calhoun; here David Merriwether took up his residence 
as Governor not so long after occupying one of the dungeons. On the 





Photo courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce Santa be, A. M. 


The Palace ot the Governors, Santa Fe, New Mexico. A very old house, dating from 
1598 to 1609, according to differing historians. Although restored, some of the original 
beams are still in place. It is now a public museum. 


Photo courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce , Santa Fe t A\ M■ 

A rival to the claims of St. Augustine’s “ oldest house,” this, said to have been the home 
01 the Tiguez Indian Chief, may be the oldest. Although this claim is disputed, it 
undoubtedly ranks as one of the very old surviving houses. 













Hill Crest, near Stateburg, South Carolina. This historic mansion was occupied, during 
the Revolution, by both the British under Cornwallis, and the Continental troops, and 
both left a prized sign of their occupancy. It was still later visited by the Federal troops, 

but was not damaged. 



Photo by George W. Johnson 


The Horry house. Modernized by the addition of the double piazzas, this house be¬ 
longed to one of Charleston’s old Huguenot families, members of which figured in her 

Revolutionary and social history. 

















The Oldest Surviving House ^5 


13 


roof of the palace another Governor, Edmund G. Ross, chose to take 
the oath of office picturesquely at sunrise. 

A distinguished Governor, General Lew Wallace, wrote his famous 
“ Ben Hur ” in this building, while his wife wrote her book, “ The 
Land of the Pueblos.” 

Not until the present century did it cease to be the Governor’s 
mansion. Then, when the present handsome house was built for that 
purpose, the old building was turned into a museum, and now, filled 
with interesting relics of all the different governments, with old furni¬ 
ture, manuscripts, etc., it is visited by many tourists. 

Even as late as 1846, it is said that the palace was the only build¬ 
ing in Santa Fe to have glazed windows 5 something difficult to realize 
to-day, when visiting the charming little city, with its picturesque 
blending of old and new. But the first railway whistle was not heard 
in Santa Fe until 1880. 






Chapter II 

6^ The First European Settlement ^§5 


o the coast of South Carolina, and one of the group of islands 
near Beaufort, one must look for the second landing place of Euro¬ 
peans in what is now the United States — always excepting the Ice¬ 
landers, if they really did visit these shores. In South Carolina one finds 
also the first actual settlement. 

Although the Spaniards twice landed on the island of St. Helena, 
off the Carolina coast, they made no settlement there, merely carry¬ 
ing off some of the peaceful Indians as slaves. It remained for the 
French Huguenots, under Jean Ribaut, to land on Parris Island with 
a band of colonists in 1562. 

This was “ so notable a body of nobles and gentlemen that a 
French historian said of them: i they had the means to achieve some 
notable thing and worthy of eternal memory.’ On May 27th, 1562, 
we find Ribaut anchored in ten fathoms of water off what is known 
to-day as Parris Island, just a few miles from Port Royal of to-day.” 

Ribaut and his men landed, and “ while they walked through the 
forest, flocks of wild turkey flew above their heads, and around they 
beheld partridges and stags. . . . On returning to the ships, they cast 
their nets in the bay, and caught fishes in numbers so wonderful that 
two draughts of the net supplied enough for a day’s food for the crews 
of both ships.” 1 

Ribaut found the Indians of what is now Beaufort County 
“ kindly, self-respecting, and for those days quite civilized peoples.” 

1 Beaufort County, South Carolina, N. L. Willet. 


14 



The First European Settlement ^5 


15 


On Parris Island he built a fort, to which he gave the name Charles- 
fort, and after taking possession of the country in the name of his 
sovereign, returned to France to report his discovery. 

“ He left in this fort a garrison of twenty-six men. Not return¬ 
ing quickly on account of home wars, the garrison afterward built a 
ship with the aid of the Indians, using Spanish moss and rosin for 
caulking it. This was the first ship constructed in America, and in it 
the garrison sailed to Europe. 

“In 1565, another French ship landed at Port Royal. Its mis¬ 
sion largely was to thank Chief Audusta for his kindness to the gar¬ 
rison on Parris Island.” 2 

In 1564 the Spanish destroyed the fort on Parris Island and 
built another which they abandoned. This the Indians, in 1576, en¬ 
tirely destroyed. Apparently the Spaniards, as usual, made no attempt 
to live peaceably with the natives. In 1577’ the Spaniards built still 
another fort “ of cedar posts and tabby.” 

A few years ago two American officers found on this island the out¬ 
lines of an old fort of tabby and cedar, some of the ancient posts still 
sound. They believed this to be RibauPs fort, and a monument to the 
early French Huguenot settlers was raised here shortly after the dis¬ 
covery. But some old Spanish histories recently discovered tend to 
establish it as the ruins of the Spanish fort, built fifteen years later than 
Ribaut’s, while of the latter it is believed no vestige remains. A third 
old fort, parts of whose four foot walls still remain, was built by the 
English in 1731, while of their earlier one, in 1711, nothing is left, 
but its site is believed to have been in the heart of the town of Beaufort. 

In Beaufort stands to-day, still occupied, a house more than two 
hundred years old, with but superficial exterior changes, including a 
large porch with pillars. The lower part of this house is of tabby, 
in which are loop-holes for rifles, and beneath them a stone ledge for 
ammunition. 

Beaufort was settled early in the 18th century. In 1710, at a 
meeting of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, it was 

* History of Beaufort, S. C., N. L. Willet. 



16 


Historic Houses of Early America 


agreed to build a seaport town at Port Royal, but this house, oldest 
in the section, is believed to have stood here as early as 1690. Another 
very old house, also of tabby, which was sold to be used for the 
rectory of old St. Helena’s church, was the home of “ Tuscarora Jack,” 
a nickname given John Barnwell, one of the early settlers here, 
because he drove the Tuscarora Indians from the province. A third 
old tabby house in Beaufort, now in ruins, belonged to his grandson. 

Although the houses in Beaufort were not destroyed during the 
Civil War, every one was sold afterwards by the Federal Govern¬ 
ment. Meanwhile, they had been left by their owners, and almost 
everything of value in the way of furniture, silver, etc., had been 
gradually removed by negroes or soldiers. For this reason, this section 
of the country is treasure trove for antique hunters. 

At the small settlement known as Sheldon is a house said by some 
to have once been the residence of General Stephen Bull, by others of 
one Verdierj but in any case it is very old. Magnificent Sheldon Hall, 
built by General Bull, was, with the old church, burned to the ground. 
In the old house standing, the entire woodwork, long since repeatedly 
painted, is said to be of solid mahogany, and there are carved wooden 
ornaments or pendants on the exterior. On the occasion of Lafayette’s 
visit in 1824 he spoke from its porch, but the house is now a barber 
shop. 

The Bulls and the Eliots were among the most prominent English 
landowners here. Stephen Bull came over with Sayle, one of the early 
governors, bringing with him many servants. In addition to land here, 
he took up large tracts along the Ashley River, which remained in the 
family for more than two hundred years. 

After Ribaut’s early attempt at colonization, the first permanent 
settlement in South Carolina was made under the Lords Proprietors. 

Charleston’s first settlers came in 1670, but Charles Towne, as it 
was called until after the Revolution, lay on the opposite side of the 
Ashley River from the present city. In 1672, John Coming and his 
wife, Affra, gave up their land at Oyster Point, the present site of 
Charleston, and Mr. Henry Hughes also “ voluntarily surrendered up 




Photo by George ft’. Johnson 


The Miles Brewton house, one of the most beautiful old mansions of its period. It has 
been used as headquarters by the British during the Revolution, and by Federal generals 

in the War between the States. 











































Courtesy of Mr. N. L. IVillet 

The beautiful old live oak avenue leading to old Tomotley Plantation, near Sheldon, 

South Carolina. 



Photo by George W. Johnson 


Known as the Lord Campbell house, that gentleman, South Carolina’s last Royal Gov¬ 
ernor, occupied it, and from its garden steps he made his escape to a British frigate in 
Charleston harbor, at the outbreak of the Revolution. 

























The First European Settlement ^§5 


17 


one halfe of Oyster Poynt, to be employed in and towards the enlarg¬ 
ing of a Towne.” In 1679, the settlement was ordered moved to this 
site, which was done while Sir John Yeamans was governor. At this 
time, large estates or grants of land were called baronies, and among 
these were Wadpoo, Broughton, Colleton and Fairlawn Baronies, the 
men who received these grants often being called Landgraves. 

From Charleston as headquarters, one may visit many interesting 
old estates in the vicinity, along the two rivers, the Ashley and Cooper, 
which meet in Charleston harbor. Charleston itself offers much of 
history, and many interesting old houses tempt the visitor to linger. 
It is, perhaps, the American city which has best preserved its old- 
time atmosphere. Even new buildings, for Charleston by no means lives 
solely in the past, are frequently built after the old manner. Some of 
the handsome modern residences on the new part of the famous Battery 
have been fitted with woodwork, doors, iron railings and gateways, re¬ 
moved from some old house demolished, or so converted for busi¬ 
ness purposes that the interior was torn out. There is a strong local 
feeling for keeping this woodwork, the beautiful wrought iron railings 
and gateways, in Charleston, and not allowing them to be purchased 
and shipped away. 

After giving up their land at Oyster Point, John Coming and his 
wife lived on a large tract of land known as Comingtee, and this has 
remained in the family of collateral descendants, the Balls, to the 
present day. A brick house, believed to be one of the two oldest in the 
parish, still stands on the estate. The date of its erection is not defi¬ 
nitely known, but it is possible that it may have been built by Captain 
John Coming himself; if not, by his half brother, Elias Ball, who 
succeeded to the property after the deaths of the childless Comings, 
somewhere about 1698 or 1699. There are notes among the family 
papers of repairs made to a house here in 1731, while in 1738 some 
changes in the garret windows were made. 

Originally the house had but two large rooms on each of its two 
floors. Later, partitions were built in, and a large wooden addition 
which has now been removed. The estate was famed for its hospitality. 



18 


($${ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


To quote Mrs. Leiding: “ So perfect were the arrangements made for 
guests that in every sleeping room was to be found the old four-poster, 
double bed, and a trundle bed or crib.” 3 

Charles Towne was built on the new site, with fortifications fol¬ 
lowing the line of to-day’s Water Street. By 1715, there were three 
forts or garrison houses in or near the parishes of St. John’s and St. 
Stephen’s, in this part of the country. One on the Cooper River, three 
or four miles below Monck’s Corner; another on Daniel Ravenel’s 
place, Wantool; the third on the Izard plantation on the Santee River. 

What is assuredly one of the oldest surviving houses in Charleston, 
if not the very oldest, is that known as the Colonel William Rhett 
house on Haskell Street. This is admitted to be one of the first houses 
built outside of the old fortifications. 

Colonel William Rhett came to Carolina in 1698. The next year 
there was a terrible epidemic, probably yellow fever, which was fol¬ 
lowed by a terrific hurricane, and in the work of re-building the young 
colony four men figured prominently: William Rhett, James Moore, 
Sir Nathaniel Johnson and Nicholas Trott. All except Moore were 
new comers. 

This Rhett house, a square, brick edifice, covered with stucco, was 
built before 1722. Galleries in the usual Charleston style have been 
added on both sides. No longer a private residence, it is rented to 
lodgers, but in one of the rear rooms may still be seen a black marble 
mantel in which is cut the Rhett coat of arms, a lion rampant, holding 
in one paw a Crusader’s flagstaff, on the pennon a Crusader’s cross, the 
carving filled in with gold. In the old dining room, inserted in the 
centre of another black marble mantelpiece, is a tablet which it is 
thought Colonel Rhett may have brought from an earlier dwelling, 
if this one is not indeed the original, as it may be, since Johnson’s Tra¬ 
ditions speak of it as u in good condition in 1722.” On the second floor 
is still another old black marble mantel, long ago decorated with a 
hand-painted design of morning glories. 

From the steps of this house, in the days immediately preceding 

3 Historic Houses of South Carolina, Harriette Kershaw Leiding. 



6^ The First European Settlement 


19 


the Revolution, Lord Campbell heard his commission as governor read 
aloud to a crowd which “ listened in sullen silence.” Originally the 
grounds extended down to the water, and a gate opened on The High 
Way, now King Street. 

Colonel Rhett has several claims to fame. During the Franco- 
Spanish alliance, the Governor of the Carolina settlements, Sir Na¬ 
thaniel Johnson, sent a privateer to the neighborhood of Havana, to 
look for French and Spanish ships. This vessel returned with prisoners 
of both nationalities on board, and chased by four or five French ves¬ 
sels. Colonel Rhett, who was both soldier and sailor, was appointed 
vice-admiral, and sailed to attack the French fleet with but a few small 
vessels under his command. He defeated the larger force. 

Pirates began harrying the settlements. The first of these were 
the mutinous crews of three French ships which had been sent in 1564 
under Rene Laudonniere to bring food and aid to Ribaut’s early colo¬ 
nists at Fort Royal. These mutineers were later killed by the colonists 
of the new French settlement at Fort Caroline. But from that day, 
pirates were all too frequent visitors. 

At the death of the English governor, Sir Richard Kyrle, Robert 
Quarry, in 1684, assumed the title of governor, and allied himself 
with the pirates. Two months later he was ousted from his assumed 
office, but Joseph Morton, the new governor, invited Sir Harry Mor¬ 
gan, a notorious buccaneer, to the settlement. Another notorious pirate 
was Blackbeard, who one day sailed up the river to Charles Towne, 
demanded provisions and drugs for his sick, got them, and sailed away. 
Then came Stede Bonnet, who terrorized the coast. A former major in 
the English army, well educated and wealthy, he had lived at Barba- 
does before taking to piracy. An expedition was organized against him, 
but although some of his men were taken, Bonnet escaped. 

Woodrow Wilson, in his History of the American People, quotes 
an old narrative, possibly that of one of Bonnet’s contemporaries, whose 
author gave what he considered an explanation of the gentleman’s hav¬ 
ing turned pirate. 

“ This humor of going a-pyrating proceeded from a disorder in his 



20 


6?^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


mind, which had been but too visible in him some time before this 
wicked undertaking, and which is said to have been occasioned by some 
discomforts he found in a married state.” 

Colonel Rhett came to Sir Nathaniel’s assistance, although the two 
were not good friends, and in another attack on the pirates with his 
own ships blocked the channel where he had caught them, and forced 
the pirate ships aground. Although his own Henry and Sea Nymph 
grounded, he fired on his opponents with such effect that they surren¬ 
dered, when, to the joyous surprise of the Charlestonians, it was 
found that the leader was Stede Bonnet himself. 

Bonnet was imprisoned in the underground dungeons of the old 
Wool Exchange, still standing in Charleston. Since the dungeons have 
now been lighted with electricity, one may inspect them and can but 
marvel that, despite the massive walls, Bonnet again escaped. It is said 
that an Indian furnished him with a woman’s dress for disguise, but 
pursued into the sand hills by Rhett and his men, he was finally re¬ 
captured and hanged. 

In 1722, Rhett died of a stroke of apoplexy, and was buried in the 
churchyard of the new, unfinished St. Philip’s church, to which he had 
given a silver communion service still in use. His early companion in 
the colony, James Moore, died a few months later. The two men were 
never good friends, but a daughter of Moore married a son of Rhett, 
and from this couple the present Rhett family is descended. 

In this old Rhett house, Governor Wade Hampton of Revolu¬ 
tionary fame, grandfather of the Confederate general of the same 
name, was born. Part of the once extensive garden remains at one side. 
The Colonel’s granddaughter, Mrs. Thomas Smith, built and lived 
in the house still standing at No. 64 Church Street. 

In 1707, visiting Charles Towne, John Lawson, Surveyor General 
of North Carolina, stated: “ The town has very regular and fair streets, 
in which are good buildings of brick and wood.” In 1720, Oldmixon 
mentions Mr. Landgrave Smith’s house on the Key, with a drawbridge 
and wharf. “ Col. Rhett’s is on the Key, and 10 or 12 more deserve 
to be taken notice of.” 



The First European Settlement 


21 


The first Landgrave Thomas Smith came to this country soon after 
1679. His son, Thomas, second Landgrave of the name, and his grand¬ 
son, the Reverend Josiah Smith, are all said to have lived in their 
house at Goose Creek, which was wrecked by the earthquake of 1886, 
and later burned. 

The fortifications of Charles Towne already mentioned “ en¬ 
closed a parallelogram along the west bank of the Cooper, not more 
than four of the present squares by three broad.” They were needed 
u not only on account of Indians by land and pirates by sea, but because 
this was the southern end of his Majesty’s dominions, and the nearest 
neighbors, the Spaniards of St. Augustine were an ever present dan¬ 
ger.” 

Furthermore, u there were bastions at the corners named for four 
of the Lords Proprietors; Granville, at the end of the East Battery; 
Colleton, near the present Baptist church; .... Cartaret, near 
where Meeting and Cumberland now join, (not far from the old Pow¬ 
der Magazine, now the property of the Colonial Dames,) and Craven, 
at the east end of the present Market.” 4 

Charleston has suffered from several disastrous fires, as well as an 
earthquake, which destroyed many of the oldest houses. Among these 
was, it is said, the residence of Charles Pinckney, first in this country of 
a distinguished family. 

On a corner of East Bay and Tradd Street, on the water side, stands 
a large building, now closed and dilapidated, but bearing distinct traces 
of having once been a mansion. Like many Charleston homes, the 
ground floor is less high-ceiled than the one above, on which is often 
found, as in England, the drawing room. The window arches of the 
second story of this house are much higher than those below. This 
now mournful old building is said to have been the residence of 
Thomas Pinckney. 

The Charles Pinckney mentioned as the first to come to this coun¬ 
try built himself a residence which must have been very near this house, 
if not on its site. He had three sons; Thomas, an officer in the British 

4 Historical Sketch of the Old Powder Magazine, Charleston, Ellen Parker. 



22 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


army, died young; Charles became Chief Justice, while the third, Wil¬ 
liam, was a Commissioner in Equity. The second Charles was educated 
in England as a lawyer, returned to Carolina, where he became suc¬ 
cessful in his profession, was later a King’s Councillor, then Speaker 
of the House. He married, but after remaining childless for some 
years, finally adopted his brother William’s oldest son as his prospec¬ 
tive heir, and sent him to England to be educated, as told by Mrs. 
Leiding. She goes on to say: 

“ A romantic incident in the family annals interfered with this 
plan. 

“ In 1739, Colonel George Lucas, Governor of Antigua, arrived in 
Charleston with his family. The climate of the West Indies did not suit 
Mrs. Lucas. . . . Mrs. Lucas and her daughter were cordially re¬ 
ceived in Charleston society, but were especially welcomed in Colonel 
Pinckney’s home. So open was Mrs. Pinckney’s admiration for the 
young lady that she declared her readiness to step out of the way and 
permit her to take her (Mrs. Pinckney’s) place.” 6 Surely an extraor¬ 
dinary declaration for any wife to make. However, Mrs. Pinckney 
died the following year, and the widower promptly married Miss 
Eliza Lucas, and they had three children: Charles Cotesworth and 
Thomas, who both became generals in the Revolutionary Army, and a 
daughter, who married Daniel Horry. The Horrys were Huguenots, 
some of them fighting under Francis Marion in the Revolution, and 
the Horry house, built between 1751 and 1767, but with a recently 
added piazza, still stands on the corner of Meeting and Tradd Streets. 

After his second marriage, Charles Pinckney “ bought a whole 
square on East Bay, and built a handsome mansion in the centre of it, 
facing the harbor. The house was two stories high, with roof of slate 
. . . one of the rooms on the second floor was thirty feet long, and had 
a high ceiling. The whole house was wainscoted.” This description 
from Mrs. Leiding’s book exactly fits the old house now standing on 
East Bay, already mentioned. 

The brother, William Pinckney, also had a house on East Bay, and 

8 Historic Homes of South Carolina, Harriette Kershaw Leiding. 



The First European Settlement )S$§5 


23 


here the first quarterly meeting of Charleston’s St. George’s Society 
was held in July, 1733. 

Directly opposite this house which may or may not be the Pinck¬ 
ney residence, for actual proofs could not be found, stands a shabby old 
building on the site of an older house, said to have been the birthplace 
of Robert Tradd, the first white child born in Charles Towne. 

A local historian states that the first Colonel Miles Brewton house, 
which stood on the southwest corner of Tradd and Church Streets is 
gone. The house now known by that name was built for the grandson 
and namesake, Miles, by the first Miles Brewton. 

But on this corner stands a square brick house, with a two-story 
and evidently older brick building, with odd peephole shutters, ad¬ 
joining it on Church Street. The house next to this, on the south, is 
said to have been the gift of the first Miles to his daughter, wife of Dr. 
Thomas Dalej and beyond that was the son, Robert Brewton’s home. 

The corner house is now The Patio, Miss Emily Barker’s interior 
decorating studio. She has from the first been deeply interested in 
studying the history of the place, and learned, as did the writer from 
an early chronicle, that the original house on this site, with a three 
story coach house adjoining, was visited more than a hundred years ago 
by a disastrous fire, which entirely destroyed the residence, and burned 
off the third story of a coach house. It seems quite probable therefore 
that here once stood the home of Colonel Miles the First, while the 
lower two stories of his old coach house have survived to the present 
day. 

The two buildings effectually shut off from the street an old court¬ 
yard, now grass grown, with but a few aged shrubs remaining of a 
possible garden. A former servants’ house on Tradd Street has been 
converted into apartments, but the old wooden bridge still connects it 
with the corner house. Over this bridge, the valet used to pass back and 
forth to the master’s room. 

Whether or not the corner house was the original Brewton house, 
burned and rebuilt, it came many years ago into the possession of a Ger¬ 
man, who used it for his feed business, removing partitions which prob- 



24 


6^ Historic Houses of Early America 


ably once divided the ground floor into a hall and two large rooms, so 
that now there is but one great room, with fine old woodwork, and with 
two similar doors surmounted by fanlights, opening one on Tradd, the 
other on Church Street. The German also removed the old staircase, 
and substituted a small one built outside from the gallery extending 
along the courtyard side. Later, the house was for a time a boys’ school. 
The rooms on the upper floors still have their fine old mantels. 

Robert Brewton occupied his Church Street house until 1745, in 
which year he succeeded his father as Powder Receiver, with the duty 
of seeing that powder from the old magazine on Cumberland Street 
was distributed as needed. Then he sold it to his sister, Rebecca, wife 
of Jordan Roche. 

On Church Street, just beyond Tradd, is the large house once the 
residence of Judge Thomas Heyward, grandson of Captain Thomas 
Heyward, of the British Colonial Army. When the Provincial Con¬ 
gress enlisted two regiments, in 1775, Judge Heyward was made cap¬ 
tain of the first company. A year later, he was one of a committee of 
ten to report on a form of government for the colonies, and he was 
furthermore one of the Signers. When President Washington visited 
Charleston, spending a week there in May, 1791, this house with its 
furnishings, then occupied by Mrs. Rebecca Jamieson, was rented by 
the entertainment committee for Washington’s use, for the sum of 
sixty pounds, that “ being the lowest rate at which the said house can 
be procured.” 

A tablet stating that Washington resided here is affixed to the 
house. The Daughters of the Revolution, Colonial Dames, and the 
city authorities have placarded almost all of the important old houses 
and buildings in Charleston, as well as the more important sites of 
others now gone, so the visitor can enjoy a stroll through the city, and 
at the same time locate the notable buildings. 

At 69 Church Street stands the house occupied before 1762 by 
Jacob Motte, for twenty-seven years Treasurer of the Colony. His son, 
Jacob, married Rebecca Brewton, the heroine of Fort Motte. 

The Mottes were an old and noble French family. After the revo- 



The First European Settlement ^§5 


25 


cation of the Edict of Nantes, the Marquis de la Motte went to Hol¬ 
land. His son, Jean, was sent by the Dutch Government as consul to 
Dublin, Ireland, and there he Anglicized his name to John Abraham 
Motte. About 1704, he came to South Carolina, received grants of sev¬ 
eral plantations there, and a few years later went to Europe to fetch 
his family back with him. He was one of the Commissioners of the 
Church Actj the next year commissioner of the first public school es¬ 
tablished in South Carolina, and was buried under the west end of old 
St. Michael’s church. 

His only son, Jacob, was one of the original founders of the first 
fire insurance company in America, known as the Friendly Society. 
He, like his father, was interested in education, and contributed 
to a fund for educating negroes. One of his last acts, as Treasurer, 
was to receive an order which was passed December 8th, 1769, by the 
Provincial Assembly for 10,500 pounds currency “for the purpose of 
aiding the American colonies in their resistance against the tyrannical 
measures being adopted by the British Parliament.” 

The senior Jacob was twice married, and of his nine children by 
his first wife, almost all figured prominently in the Revolutionary 
annals. His son, Jacob, who married Rebecca Brewton, promptly 
offered his services to his country, and was killed in the early days of 
the Revolution. Another son, Major Isaac, served in the army, repre¬ 
sented South Carolina in the Continental Congress, and was appointed 
by Washington naval commander of the port of Charleston. Another 
son, Charles, was captain in the Revolutionary forces. One daughter, 
Anne, married first Thomas Lynch, Senior, then General Moultrie of 
the patriot army, and her sister married Lieutenant Peronneau, fight¬ 
ing on the same side. 

Jacob Motte, Senior, married for his second wife the widow of 
Joseph Pinckney, and had two children by her. 

Robert Brewton’s son, Miles, was the first occupant of the charm¬ 
ing old house now known variously as the Miles Brewton or Pringle 
house. It stands on King Street. 

The second Miles, like his father and his grandfather before him, 



2 6 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


was appointed Powder Receiver. Miles became a member of the Com¬ 
mons in 1763, and was constantly re-elected until the Revolution 
changed the name of that legislative body. 

This very lovely old house has remained in the family down to 
the present day. In 1769, the South Carolina Gazette and County 
Journal contained a statement to the effect that the advertiser, Ezra 
Waite, an English architect, had “ finished the architecture and con¬ 
ducted the execution thereof . . . and also calculated, adjusted and 
draw’d at large for to work by the Ionick entablature,” etc., of this 
house. Evidently Waite felt that his professional reputation was at 
stake, attacked by some one whom he “ believed to be Mr. Kinsey 
Burden, a carpenter.” Workmen to build the house were probably 
brought from England. 

A high brick wall with large gates of iron separates the house 
from the street. Across the street there used to be a garden, in which 
was set a house once occupied by the patriot, Robert Y. Hayne, but 
both house and garden have now vanished. Originally the garden in 
the rear of the Brewton house went through to Legare Street, and a 
gateway on the latter was used by British officers when they occupied 
the house. 

Along the side of the front yard is the old carriage house, with 
kitchen behind, and the servants’ quarters above, while a second house, 
originally also for servants, and formerly connected with the carriage 
house by a wash house, pigeon house, etc., no longer belongs to the 
family, but has a separate entrance on another street. 

The coach house and the servants’ quarters are older than the big 
house, as is shown by the construction. While bricks brought from 
England as ship ballast were probably used for all the buildings, those 
in the former houses are laid in alternate rows of headers and stretchers 
— endwise for headers, lengthwise for stretchers — while in the big 
house they are placed according to Flemish bond, or alternately a 
lengthwise with an endwise brick, a newer construction. The two 
smaller houses still have the original roofs of English tiles. Adjoin¬ 
ing the kitchen may be seen the old brick oven, but the room into 



The First European Settlement 


27 


which it once opened is gone. Walls and roof of the kitchen were 
badly damaged during the earthquake, and one can easily trace the 
new bricks used afterwards for repairs. 

A double flight of steps mounts over a basement to the front por¬ 
tico of the main entrance of the Brewton house. The fine old doorway 
opens into a broad hall running through the house, and a broad stair¬ 
case with low treads ascends with a landing to the second floor, on 
which are the drawing room and three large bedrooms. Between the 
drawing room and the bedroom behind it a steep, winding flight of 
stairs leads to the attic, where Mrs. Motte kept her pretty daughters 
hidden, while the British officers occupied the house. From the draw¬ 
ing room, French windows open on to a porch over the portico. The 
porch floor was once of lead, but this was removed by the Federal 
troops when they occupied Charleston, during the Civil War. 

The drawing room, and indeed the entire house, is filled with 
beautiful old furniture, china, and portraits of many bygone genera¬ 
tions. There is a portrait of Miles Brewton, first owner of the house, 
by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a copy of a portrait of the first Miles by 
Rembrandt. The original went to another member of the family when 
some possessions were divided. Here is a portrait of the first owner’s 
mother, painted by Henrietta Johnson, said to have been the first 
woman painter in America. The artist is buried in old St. Philip’s 
churchyard. 

The woodwork is very lovely in this drawing room, with carved 
cornice and carved, broken pediments over the doors, all of solid ma¬ 
hogany. Here, too, is a huge seachest, in which the Axminster carpet 
once covering the floor was shipped from England. Only one tattered 
fragment remains, its colors still bright, for the northern soldiers 
slashed it up into saddle cloths. The mantel is of white marble, with a 
central panel on which is carved a shepherd resting with his sheep 
beneath a tree —very like the one in Mt. Vernon which was a present 
to Washington. 

Among other wonderful old pieces of furniture are two Empire 
chairs, bought at the sale of Louis Philippe’s effects, and a secretary, 



28 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


whose shelved top has now been taken off, and is used as a china closet. 
Had it remained in place, the top would reach almost to the room’s 
high ceiling. This piece was the work of Jacob Sass, a Charleston cabinet 
maker of about 1794. 

The rooms on the first floor were the dining room at the right, a 
sitting room with library behind it on the left. The ceiling of the sit¬ 
ting room has decorations of London putty, which are as firmly in 
place, as well preserved as though the work of yesterday. A great mar¬ 
ble slab fastened to the dining room wall was used as a table on which 
to set hot dishes. Its counterpart from the other side has been removed 
and very appropriately placed as a memorial to Rebecca Motte in the 
vestibule of St. Philip’s Church. 

In the basement are offices and a large sewing room, in which in 
olden times it is said that often as many as seventeen seamstresses were 
busy at once. The mistress of the home used then personally to super¬ 
intend the cutting and making of clothing for her children, — for the 
boys until they were quite well grown — all of her husband’s and 
sons’ underclothing as well as that for herself and her daughters, shirts 
and collars for the men of the family. In addition, clothing for house 
servants and others on the plantation, sheets and pillow cases, etc., all 
were made under the watchful eye of the mistress, so it is small wonder 
that many seamstresses were needed. Almost all of the old Charleston 
householders had a plantation in the country, along the river, from 
which supplies were sent down by boat to the city. In this case, the 
plantation was Runnymede, and a boat manned by eight oarsmen, with 
a sail as well, was used for such transportation. 

The old garden though diminished is still large. Once it contained 
a marble bathing pool, greenhouses, etc., but these are gone, although 
part of the old brick retaining wall remains. Snowdrops brought from 
England by the first owner still blossom every spring, and a rose 
planted by Louis Philippe survives. Windows upstairs on the garden 
side of the house have charming little iron balconies, while on the 
lower floor, a broad semi-enclosed piazza, like a modern sun parlor, 
runs across the back. 



6 ?^ The First European Settlement )S$5 


29 


Much space has been given this old house for several reasons. In 
the first place, it is a beautiful example of its period} it is in perfect 
condition, and much history and romance are connected with it. 

As has been stated, the first owner was a man of prominence, and 
his wife, one of the Izards, belonged to another prominent family. 
The last colonial governor, Sir William Campbell, married another 
Izard, a cousin of Mrs. Brewton, and stayed in this house while his 
own residence was being prepared for him. 

Shortly after his arrival in Charleston, a delegation from the Pro¬ 
vincial Congress waited on him, and requested permission to present 
an address. This “ was brought by ten newly appointed captains and 
colonels, only two beside his host, Mr. Brewton, retaining their specific 
designations and costumes.” 

The address set forth that “we readily profess our loyal attach¬ 
ment to our Sovereign, his Crown and Dignity,” but went on to enu¬ 
merate certain intolerable grievances, for which they asked redress. 

Sir William was “ very thoughtful ” after the address was read, 
and called Mr. Brewton from his bed in the middle of the night, and 
begged him to implore the Committee to use more moderate language. 
Mr. Brewton consulted with three of the gentlemen, but they thought 
it impossible to change the wording. 

Then for the first time, tragedy touched the house. Shortly before 
the Revolution, Miles Brewton, his wife and children set sail from 
Charleston for New York, and nothing was ever heard of the vessel 
or of a single passenger. Whether they were attacked by pirates, and 
made to walk the plank—and at that time pirates infested these 
shores — or whether the ship with all aboard was lost in one of those 
terrible storms frequent around Cape Hatteras was never known. The 
house passed then to Brewton’s two sisters, and one of these, Mrs. 
Rebecca Motte, was living in it when the British occupied Charleston. 
They had already seized and fortified her plantation home, Mt. 
Joseph, on the Congaree River. She it was who sent her three charm¬ 
ing daughters up into the attic, for she was unwilling to have them 
seen by her uninvited guests. Food was carried secretly to them by a 
faithful old slave. 



3 ° 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


Mrs. Motte always presided at her table with all the formality 
of a hostess entertaining, as long as Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Rawdon 
and their staff remained, and the story goes that when they left, Sir 
Henry thanked her for her hospitality, but regretted that he had not 
been permitted to make the acquaintance of her family. 

The three fair daughters later married distinguished Americans j 
John Middleton, of Lee’s Legion, General Thomas Pinckney, son of 
Eliza Lucas, and Captain William Alston, of Marion’s brigade. The 
latter, it is said, built the Alston house at No. 70 Tradd Street, still a 
residence, although its old-time appearance is marred by the addition 
of a modern bay window. 

Mrs. Rebecca Motte is justly called a heroine. Left a widow early 
in the Revolution, she was living in a new house in Orangeburg County 
when the British arrived there, took possession of it, fortified it by 
digging a deep ditch around the house, topping this ditch with a high 
parapet, and called it Fort Motte. 

Mrs. Motte and her family took shelter in a nearby farmhouse. 
Then came Generals Francis Marion and Henry Lee. They besieged 
Fort Motte, then, learning of the approach of British reinforcements, 
deliberated. Military tactics dictated firing the house, and thus driving 
out its defenders, but they hesitated to do this, because it belonged to 
a widow and kinswoman. 

“ Burn it,” she is said to have urged. “ Burn it. God forbid that 
I should bestow a single thought on my little concerns, when the in¬ 
dependence of my country is at stake. No, sir, if it were a palace, it 
should go.” 

She went into the farmhouse, and fetched some East Indian arrows 
and a bow adapted for the purpose, and with the help of these, the 
roof of her house was set on fire, and the garrison of a hundred men 
surrendered. She then gave a banquet, beneath a long arbor, to the 
officers on both sides, and “ by her gentleness, and tact soon had victor 
and vanquished conversing pleasantly together.” 8 

A dinner guest in the Miles Brewton house before the Revolution 

6 Horry’s Life of General Marion. 



The First European Settlement 


3 i 


was Josiah Quincy, of Boston, who came to Charleston for his health, 
in 1773. He was amazed, ais he wrote in letters, at Charleston’s crowded 
harbor, the Charles Town library, founded in 1748. Charleston was 
one of the first cities in the colonies to establish one, and even before 
this the Puritans had a circulating library, the books kept in the house 
of one of their members, Henry Smith, of Beech Hill, Goose Creek. 
Books were sent back and forth by a negro slave, who carried them 
in a cowhide bag to protect them from the weather. 

Quincy also went to a dancing assembly during his stay in Charles¬ 
ton, where he found “ the dancing good, the music bad, the gentle¬ 
men many of them dressed with elegance and richness uncommon with 
us. Many of them with swords on.” 

The British left one permanent souvenir of their occupancy of the 
Brewton house. On the black marble mantel in the sitting room is 
scratched a profile portrait of Sir Henry Clinton. Seen in the right 
light, it is clearly distinguishable. 

Again, in this room or the drawing room above, Mrs. Peronneau 
and other patriotic women appealed to Balfour and Lord Rawdon to 
spare the life of the patriot, Isaac Y. Hayne, then imprisoned in the 
basement dungeons of the old Exchange, and appealed in vain. 

The great-great-grandchildren of Rebecca Motte now own and 
occupy this house. 

From 1864 to 1865, it was occupied by the Federal Generals Hatch 
and Meade. 

Three Charleston houses are pointed out as the one from which 
Francis Marion made his fateful leap. 

Apparently the best claim to this honor is that of the old house 
on the corner of Orange and Pringle Streets, first owned by Colonel 
John Stuart, commissioner of Indian affairs in colonial days. A con¬ 
sistent Tory, when the Revolution was imminent, he sold the house 
and returned to England. In this, now known as the Pringle house, the 
very window of the second story corner room is pointed out as that 
from which Marion leaped. The story is as follows. 

The gentleman then living in this house used to give sumptuous 



32 


Historic Houses of Early America 


stag entertainments. He had a fine wine cellar, and in order that his 
guests should do full justice to the food, the Madeira and port wines, 
he was accustomed to lock the dining or supper room doors until he 
thought that a sufficient quantity had been consumed. It is said that this 
custom was not his alone. 

Now Marion was the most temperate of men, something which 
must have stood him in good stead later, when he was often making 
a meal of sweet potatoes only, cooked under what one writer has styled 
as long a list of oak trees as there are beds in which George Washing¬ 
ton is said to have slept. 

At all events, Marion decided that he had drunk enough wine, 
and finding the door into the hall locked, and his host either unwilling 
to open it, or unobservant, the future “ Swamp Fox ” decided to escape 
by the window, jumped from it, and broke his leg. He was sent out to 
Charleston to his home to recuperate, and when the leg mended, made 
his way to North Carolina. Here Rutledge gave him a commission as 
Colonel, and ordered him to report with all the men that he could as¬ 
semble to General Gates. When he and his band of shabby, ill-clad 
followers presented themselves, the General was not in the least im¬ 
pressed, and to get rid of them, ordered Marion to destroy every boat 
in the Wateree River which the British might use to escape from 
Charleston. His success made the General change his opinion of the 
new helper. 

Francis Marion was descended from French Huguenots who set¬ 
tled in 1690 on the Santee River. He was born in St. John’s Parish, 
Berkeley, South Carolina, and received but a limited education before 
going to sea. At sixteen, he was shipwrecked and almost lost his life 
in a hurricane in the West Indies, so yielding to his mother’s entreaties, 
he left the sea, but when only seventeen was a lieutenant in Moultrie’s 
cavalry, fighting against the Cherokee Indians. 

Not handsome, with distant manner, he was none the less tremen¬ 
dously popular with his men, and probably harried the British during 
the Revolution more successfully than any other man in command of 
similar forces. 




Photo by George If. Johnson 

The Governor Rutledge house. Although the double piazzas give it a modern look, it 

Rutledge. Shortly after the War between the States, the 
Federal Courts met here. 


was the home of “ Dictator ' 

















Photo by George JV. Johnson 


The Governor Bennett house, Charleston, S. C. Although more modern than many of 
Charleston’s old homes, this is interesting because of its builder’s history, and of the 
events which occurred here during his lifetime. 





iiijS 



|i 

Jj£f5 


Photo by George W. Johnson 


The Washington house. This was the residence, after the Revolution, of General 
William Washington, kinsman of the President. 
































The First European Settlement 


33 


One of the best known “sweet potato stories” told of Marion 
narrates that a British officer, sent from the garrison at Georgetown 
under flag of truce, to negotiate terms, was invited to dine with him. 
Roast potatoes, served on pieces of bark composed the dinner, and the 
Englishman is said to have declared on his return that they could not 
hope to conquer men who were willing to live and fight on such frugal 
fare. 

On Broad Street is the home of R. Goodwin Rhett, who has been 
Mayor of Charleston, and is now President of the Chamber of Com¬ 
merce, but the house has claims to attention far antedating this. Three 
stories high, of brick with piazzas across the front on two stories added 
some seventy-five years ago, and apparently a fine modern residence, 
it none the less was the home of “ Dictator ” Rutledge, and was built 
in 1760. 

The Dictator, John Rutledge, was the son of a physician who emi¬ 
grated to this country from England in 1730. John and his two broth¬ 
ers were sent back to England to be educated, but there was never 
any doubt as to the side on which the young man’s sympathies would 
be when stormy days for the colonies drew near. John was a member 
of the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, of the Continental Congress in 
1774-75 in Philadelphia, and later a member of the Council of Safety. 
In 1776, he was chosen first president of the separate state of South 
Carolina, and Captain Barnard Elliott in his diary tells of orders that 
“ Col. Robert’s regiment of artillery and all the militia now in Chas. 
Towne under the command of Col. Pinckney do, at 11 o’clock this 
morning, draw up two deep in Broad Street, on the side opposite St. 
Michael’s Church ... in order to receive the Hon’ble John Rut¬ 
ledge Esq., constitutionally appointed by the Hon’ble the Legislature 
as President and Commander-in-Chief of the same.” 7 

Later, Rutledge was elected Governor of South Carolina, and when 
the British occupied Charleston joined General Greene’s army in North 
Carolina, was again South Carolina’s governor after the war, and given 
absolute authority, with the title of Dictator, which title he held from 

7 Historic Houses of South Carolina, Harriette Kershaw Leiding. 




34 


Historic Houses of Early America 


1780 to 1782. He was a member of Congress, and also of the conven¬ 
tion which framed the Constitution of the United States. 

The present owner of the house is a descendant of the old Rhett 
family. 

Shortly after the War .between the States, in the drawing room on 
the second floor of this house, the United States courts were held for 
some time. 

Two doors away is another old house, once the property of early 
settlers, the Izards, who also owned estates along the Ashley River. 
A tablet on this house states that it was built in 1827 by Ralph Izard, 
and bought in 1829 by Colonel Thomas Pinckney, Mrs. Izard’s brother- 
in-law, but a house here belonged to the Izards in 1757. The 
family of the present owner has owned it for almost a century. It is 
a three story brick house, covered with stucco, with heavy old shutters 
still in place, and the entrance at one side. 

Mrs. Brewton’s sister, Mrs. Daniel Blake, owned what was later 
known as the William E. Huger house on Meeting Street. Here 
Lord and Lady Campbell lived during the brief period that he was 
Governor, until he left in 1775, taking refuge on H.M.S. Tamar, of 
Sir Peter Parker’s fleet, in Charleston harbor. He was rowed from 
the foot of his garden down Vanderhorst Creek, and out into the 
harbor. His wife, “ a young lady esteemed as one of the most con¬ 
siderable fortunes in the province,” — she had been a Miss Izard, and 
was thus described on the occasion of her marriage by the Charleston 
Gazette, in 1763 — remained behind him, and later is noted as pro¬ 
testing vehemently when her “ chariot and horses ” were seized in 
reprisal for the taking of a sum of money by the captain of H.M.S. 
Scorpion, from a patriot ship bound for the West Indies. The house 
in which they lived was sold to Colonel Lewis Morris of New York, 
who styled himself Morris of Morrisania. Later, after he and Daniel 
Huger married sister heiresses, daughters of William Elliott, Morris 
sold his house to his nephew, Daniel Elliott Huger. 

The house is noted for two serious accidents which happened to 
guests on the front steps. The first occurred when part of the bull’s- 



The First European Settlement ^§9 


35 


eye window in the gable fell on the head of Francis Kinlock. It was 
he who vainly tried to rescue Lafayette from his prison in Olmutz. 
Kinlock after the accident was carried into the house here, and Mrs. 
Huger’s protests against the performing of the dangerous operation 
of trepanning are supposed to have saved the young man’s life. At 
all events, he recovered. 

The second accident was more tragic. A young Englishman was a 
guest at the time of the severe earthquake of 1886. Alarmed, he ran 
out of the house, and on the steps was struck on the head by a piece 
of the parapet from the roof, and killed. 

This house was built about 1760. The panels in the drawing 
room were mirrors, but these were removed and sent north by Federal 
soldiers. 

Another old house, No 2 Ladson Street, was occupied at the time 
of the Revolution by Mrs. Tidyman. She was a Royalist, and gave a 
ball at which Captain Archy Campbell, known as “ Mad Archy,” 
met Miss Pauline Phelps, and fell in love with her. He made a bet 
of fifty pounds that he would marry her, but she did not smile on his 
suit. He then invited her to take a drive with him in his gig, behind 
his fast horse, and during a long drive over rough country roads, made 
furious love to her, and so frightened her that when he finally drew 
rein at the Goose Creek parsonage, out in the country, she was in a half 
fainting condition. He requested the parson to marry them, and when 
that gentleman demurred, declaring that the lady must first consent, 
Campbell drew a pistol, and held it towards the priest in so threatening a 
manner that priest and lady offered no further objections, and the 
ceremony was performed. In less than a year the wild lover was 
captured by patriots, and in trying to escape was killed. 

Still another old house in excellent condition, built in or soon after 
1768, stands on the Battery. 

Lieutenant-Colonel William Washington, a cousin of the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, won renown as an officer in the Revolutionary 
Army until the battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8, 1781, when his 
regiment was cut to pieces, and he himself wounded and taken prisoner. 



36 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


When the British evacuated Charleston he remained behind, and in 
1785 bought this house on the west corner of Church Street and 
South Bay. Three years later, he was appointed a Brigadier-General, 
and lived here until his death. 

An attractive old house on Ashley Avenue has a beautiful spiral 
staircase with a mahogany handrail about which a story is told. The first 
owner drew the plans for the house himself, called in an architect, 
and bade him build it while he, the owner, was absent in Europe. In 
vain the architect tried to interrupt the directions. Each time that 
he opened his mouth, the testy owner bade him build exactly ac¬ 
cording to the plans, declaring that he knew perfectly well how 
he wanted his house. The architect had no choice but to remain silent 
after these rebuffs. 

When the owner returned from Europe, he was all eagerness to 
see the completed house. There it stood, two stories high, with an 
attic. 

“ But where are the stairs? ” he cried, after entering, and finding 
none. 

“ That is what I tried to tell you,” replied the architect. “ You 
provided none.” 

Of course stairs had to be built, and this is supposed to explain the 
spiral staircase, as the only kind which could be added without chang¬ 
ing the arrangement of rooms, but there are several other old houses 
in Charleston with spiral staircases. 

There is also supposed to be a secret stair hidden somewhere in the 
walls, and what resembles a panel in the wall of the second floor, near 
the main stairs has been thought the entrance to such a secret passage. 
If there is a spring to open it, it has not been found, although the pres¬ 
ent mistress of the house hopes to discover the secret. 

All of the timbers in this house, considerably more than a century 
old, are handhewn, and when electricity was installed, the contractor 
declared that he lost money on the job, so thick and hard were the 
beams through which openings for the wires must be cut. 

In the yard still stands the two-story brick house, the slave quar- 



6% The First European Settlement )S$§5 


37 


ters, and bells of different sizes still connect it with the main house. 
Each servant thus knew from what room a bell rang, and who was 
responsible for answering it. 

A gas filling station in front of the old Manigault house on King 
Street partly conceals it from view. The original entrance was on the 
side street, facing the park which lies between King Street and the 
Second Presbyterian church. Doubtless this park once formed part of 
the grounds of the house. The original circular lodge entrance stands 
here, but between it and the house a lot is now fenced off, so one must 
pass through a break in the old wall on King Street, partly circle the 
house, and then mount a flight of steps to the decaying old piazza and 
great wide door. The house was designed in 1765 by Gabriel Mani¬ 
gault, architect of Charleston’s City Hall, the Orphan House, Hall of 
the South Carolina Society, etc., for his son, Joseph Manigault, Speaker 
of the South Carolina House of Commons. 

Gabriel Manigault for more than twenty years furnished the 
Charleston Library with room and book space rent free, and was for 
many years vice-president of the association, the Governor being hon¬ 
orary president. After the Powder Magazine on Cumberland Street 
was no longer needed for storing ammunition, Manigault used it for 
his wine cellar. 

Opposite the front door of the King Street house, at the rear of 
the very broad hall, a staircase ascends, with a broad landing beneath a 
window set in a semi-circular bay. A large drawing room, now rapidly 
falling to ruin, lies at the right of the hall, and two rooms, smaller, 
but of good size, are at the left. Behind the drawing room space is filled 
with the back stairs, running from basement to attic. Even this stair 
has a mahogany handrail and bannisters, while those of the main stair¬ 
case are beautifully handcarved, the treads of mahogany as well. Up¬ 
stairs are five large rooms, and throughout the house are hand carved 
doors, mantels and cornices, and the ruins of once handsome ceilings. 
The house is in a most neglected state, divided into cheap tenements, 
and nothing done to keep it in repair. 

From the house a secret passage, no longer open, ran down to the 



38 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


sea. One also led from the cellar to the roof. At the side of a closet 
on the second floor, beside where once were shelves, one may still see 
the opening into the attic above. Probably this was once entirely con¬ 
cealed by a panel. 

It is told that when the British were advancing on Charleston, 
Gabriel Manigault, having lost his son, came with his fifteen year old 
grandson, Peter, to fight in the trenches, and defend his home. 

Efforts were made to preserve this house when it had become un¬ 
desirable as a first class residence, but these failed, and its survival is 
now probably but a matter of a few years. 

The Bennett house on Lucas Street is not much over a century old, 
built about 1814, but there is interesting history connected with it. 

Governor Thomas Bennett was wealthy and popular. During his 
term of office, Denmark Vesey, a mulatto, came from his native San 
Domingo to South Carolina. He had witnessed or shared in the up¬ 
rising of the blacks on that island, and succeeded in persuading some of 
the Carolina negroes to rise. A few faithful slaves in Charleston learned 
of the plan, and went to the whites with their information. The white 
citizens armed, and the negro ringleaders were overpowered and taken 
without bloodshed. Vesey and thirty-four others were hanged to a 
tree which still stands almost in the centre of Ashley Avenue, which 
street when laid out was turned slightly to spare the tree. A number 
of other negroes were transported, and four white men found impli¬ 
cated, a German, a Scotchman, a Spaniard and one Charlestonian were 
imprisoned and fined. 

In 1821, Governor Bennett sought to curb traffic in slaves between 
the states. His own slave, Rolla, had been one of the ringleaders in 
the planned uprising. Vesey’s two chief lieutenants were Peter Popas, 
who had been a trusted slave, and Gulla Jack, whom the other negroes 
believed to be a “ conjurer,” and the crab claws which he distributed 
among them they fancied rendered them invulnerable. 

It was George, a heavily built mulatto belonging to the Wilson 
family, a blacksmith who worked out, giving only a small percentage 
of his earnings to his owners, who exposed the insurrection to the 



6 ?^ The First European Settlement 


39 


whites. George could neither read nor write, but was a devout Meth¬ 
odist. Of the men hanged, three were Governor Bennett’s slaves. As 
a reward for warning the authorities, George and another slave, Peter, 
were given their freedom, and a pension of $50 a year for life. 

The ceilings in the Bennett house are twenty-one feet high, the 
rooms average twenty-two feet square, and there are twenty-one of 
them. The spiral staircase is an architectural marvel, always com¬ 
mented on by members of that profession, for it is not attached to 
any wall, merely to floors and ceilings. 

Governor Bennett started lumber mills near the house which are 
still in operation, and aided the infant rice industry. He conveyed 
to his son-in-law, Jonathan Lucas, the land on West Point, in this 
part of the city, where stands a rice pounding mill, now for many 
years inactive, even as the wharves where many rice laden boats used to 
tie up, are deserted and rotting. 

Soon after 1830, James Nicholson built the house in which is now 
located the Misses McBee school for girls. This place was originally 
an estate outside the city, known as Ashley Hall, and a small, one-story 
brick building still standing on the grounds is said to have been built 
by Stephen Bull, one of the early and prominent settlers in the vicinity 
of Beaufort. Both his son and grandson were Royal Governors. William 
Bull, the son, had enormous grants of land, and in this little building 
it is said that he signed a treaty with the Indians, under Attakulla- 
kulla, which lasted until the Revolution. 

In this fine house are a circular staircase rising for three stories 
to the roof, and beautiful and elaborately carved woodwork of ma¬ 
hogany. 




Chapter III 

Early Charlestonians’ Country Estates 


O n the old estates outside of the city of Charleston, along the 
Ashley and Cooper Rivers, some of the early mansions have sur¬ 
vived j others have been so re-modeled as to be practically new, while 
of the rest, a number have entirely disappeared, or have been replaced 
with modern residences. Part of this country was devastated by the 
British during the Revolution, and again later by the northern armies 
during the Civil War, while other places escaped this devastation 
for no apparent reason. 

Only a short drive from Charleston, although in part over a 
road most trying to automobile springs, is what is still called Fen¬ 
wick’s Castle. 

A Fenwick commanded a company of militia during the French 
invasion of 1706. Another, Edward, was a member of His Majesty’s 
Council in 1747, married one of Ralph Izard’s daughters, and for 
second wife, Mary Drayton, of Drayton Hall, which will be mentioned 
again. The Fenwicks were of a titled English family, and Edward was 
sometimes known as Lord Ripon, but they apparently soon dropped 
their titles. 

Turning off the John’s Island County Road, the only good 
bit traversed on this visit, one takes a rough, deeply rutted side road, 
and eventually enters what must once have been a broad avenue, 
shaded by magnificent old trees. Some of these remain, but between 
them and the narrow, rough cart track, all that is left of the avenue, 
small trees, bushes and undergrowth have sprung up. 


40 



6^ Early Charlestonians* Country Estates ^5 41 


The house, which may be seen whenever the negro caretaker who 
lives nearby is at home, is of brick, two stories high, on a thick-walled 
high basement. In this basement or cellar is an old circular, brick lined 
well, and a gaping hole, the beginning of a passage running down to 
the river, but now so blocked and filled in that it would be very 
difficult to enter. It is said that this basement was an earlier building, 
used as a fort. 

Doubtless there once were lawns and gardens sloping down to the 
river, but no trace of them remains. There are even no steps left by 
which to reach the two once fine doorways opening into the hall which 
runs through the house. One must use a ladder, nor does this seem 
very safe, for the floor and pillars of the porticoes are rotting, and 
there are gaps in the boards. 

The doorway towards the river, not that to which the drive now 
leads, was probably used as the main entrance, for it is larger. 

Hardly a pane of glass remains in the windows, across which 
the heavy old shutters are barred. On one side of the wide hall are 
two square rooms, on the other a passage opens, with rooms on either 
side, the house at that end being semi-circular. The same arrangement 
is repeated on the floor above. Upper and lower rooms were once pan¬ 
eled in cedar and pine, with mahogany woodwork. The latches and 
hinges were of silver and the mantels highly decorated, but unless 
something is soon done to prevent, there will be nothing left of the 
house but a brick shell. Even the fine old doors have been replaced by 
the cheapest of painted ones. 

The place is owned by a man who has no wish to live in it — and 
indeed considerable money would have to be spent to make it habitable. 
The land is leased in small tracts to tenant farmers. 

There is no trace now of the race course which Lord Ripon is 
said to have laid out in front of the house, so that his guests might 
watch the races from the windows. The story goes that one of his 
daughters fell in love with a young Englishman, who brought over 
some thoroughbred horses for her father. He would not hear of such 
a match for his daughter, and the couple thereupon eloped. The 




42 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§9 


father, hotly pursuing the young couple, overtook them and inflicted a 
horrible punishment, for he hanged the young man to a tree, as he sat 
his horse, and compelled the unfortunate girl to lash her lover’s 
horse from beneath him. She died of a broken heart, and probably it 
is her ghost that is said to haunt the upper corner room on the river 
side. 

Edward Fenwick was a loyalist, and his estates were confiscated, 
which was probably the first step downward in the history of the once 
splendid old place. 

Considered the oldest house in this part of the state, and the 
first one of brick outside of Charleston is Medway, home of Landgrave 
Smith, one of South Carolina’s earliest English settlers. He came 
to this country soon after 1679, and there is a tradition that here he 
married a beautiful baroness. 

Of Medway two stories are told. The first that Thomas Smith, 
the first Landgrave, built it for his son, Thomas, also known as Land¬ 
grave. Probably both men, as well as the second Landgrave’s son, the 
Reverend Josiah Smith, all occupied it at different times. 

The other story says that the house was built by Jean de Arsens, 
Sieur de Wernhaut, whose widow later married Smith. If this is 
true, instead of standing on a tract of land originally granted the 
Landgrave, it probably adjoined his grant. It would be interesting to 
trace the ancestry of this Sieur de Wernhaut. Who was he, and from 
what country did he come? Could it be from Brittany, and would 
that explain the curious end gables which rise in steps? There is a 
tradition in parts of Brittany that by building the outer walls with 
the effect of steps, evil spirits might be induced to walk down from 
the roof, and leave the house in peace. 

At all events, whichever of the two men built the house, the steps 
remain for us to examine. Built about 1682, two stories in height, 
with large, low-ceiled rooms, the “inferior bricks” of its walls may 
have been made on the place, for it is told that most of those used in 
building Fort Sumter were made at Medway. It is on or near a tract 
of land granted to the first Landgrave by the Earl of Craven, and 



Early Charlestonians* Country Estates ^§5 43 


is fifteen or sixteen miles from Charleston. Before the War between 
the States, there was a race track at Medway, and the owner raised 
blooded horses. While many ghosts, including that of the Land¬ 
grave, are said to haunt the old rooms, there is one particularly 
touching story of a ghostly visitor. 

Always at the season when races used to be run here, there ap¬ 
pears a lovely young woman. Her ghost wanders through the house, 
and even those who have never seen her may admit that they have 
heard the rustle of her gown. 

It seems that while the horse racing owner was alive, this young 
woman, a recent bride, came with her husband to pay a visit. Every 
afternoon, as it grew dusk, she waited and watched from a window 
for the return of her young husband. One day they brought him 
home to her on a stretcher, dead. Since her own death her ghost has 
haunted the house. 

Landgrave Smith is buried on the old lawn, close to the house. 
At his death, in 1794, he left a “silver tobacco box” to Summer¬ 
ville Boone, who lived four miles away. Perhaps this is the box 
to which the Ancient Lady refers. 

The Izards had estates in this section, but of their place, The 
Elms, nothing but ruins remain. In this house Lafayette was enter¬ 
tained in great state, one of the octagonal wings being fitted up 
especially for the occasion. This wing was always thereafter called 
“Lafayette’s wing.” In the old Goose Creek church nearby may be 
found a tablet to Ralph, the first Izard to come to this country, who 
is buried in the old churchyard here. His hatchment, said to be one of 
but two existing in this country, still hangs on the wall of the church. 

Still nearer the church than Medway is the Oaks, a beautiful mod¬ 
ern house in colonial style, but an old resident of Charleston assured 
the writer that the original, home of the Middleton family, prom¬ 
inent in the annals of Charleston and its environs from early times, 
was not as has been stated, entirely destroyed by fire, and replaced 
by the handsome modern residence. On the contrary, she says, part 
of the old house survived, and was included in the new one. At 



44 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


all events, no one can deny the age of the magnificent live oaks, which 
border the avenue leading to the door. Veiled and draped in grey 
moss, their beauty is such that they are not easily forgotten. 

Approached by the bridge across Goose Creek, where in early days 
there was only a ford, the house is charmingly situated, set in a clear¬ 
ing, with lawns sloping down to the winding stream. It is told that 
a motion picture director obtained permission to film the beautiful 
avenue of live oaks for a picture laid in colonial times. 

Arthur Middleton, one of the Royal Governors, was the first of 
his name to come to South Carolina. His son, Henry, President of the 
first Congress in 1774, married Lady Mary, daughter of the Earl 
of Cromartie, who was banished from England for corresponding 
with the “Old Pretender.” After being left a widow, she died at 
sea, while returning in 1789 from London to Charleston. Another 
Middleton place in this section, Crowfield, was occupied by a member 
of the family until his death in 1876. This was Henry Middleton, 
great-great-grandson of the original “emigrant.” His grandfather, 
Arthur Middleton, was a “ Signer.” 

Arthur Middleton built Crowfield, naming it, so the story goes, 
after family property in England. His son, William, returned to 
England, and the place was then sold out of the family in 1776, but 
later re-purchased by a Middleton. 

A letter written by Miss Eliza Lucas, the future Mrs. Pinckney, 
gives an account of this old place. She made “ an agreeable tour ” to 
“several very handsome gentlemen’s seats, at all of wch. we were 
entertained with the most friendly politeness. The first we arrived 
at was Crowfield, Mr. William Middleton’s seat, where we spent a 
most agreeable week. The house stands a mile from but in sight of the 
road, and makes a very handsome appearance} as you draw nearer 
new beauties discover themselves j first the beautiful vine mantling 
the wall with delicious clusters, next a large pond in the midst of a 
spacious green presents itself as you enter the gate. The house is 
well furnished, the rooms well contrived and elegantly furnished. 
From the back door is a wide walk a thousand feet long, each side 



Early Charlestonians* Country Estates ^5 45 


of wch. nearest the house is a grass plat ornamented in a serpentine 
manner with flowers j next to that on the right hand is what immedi¬ 
ately struck my rural taste, a thicket of young tall live oaks, where 
a variety of airy choristers poured forth their melody, and my dar¬ 
ling, the mocking bird, joyned in the concert, enchanted me with his 
harmony. Opposite on the left hand is a large square bowling green, 
sunk a little below the level of the rest of the garden, with a walk 
quite round bordered by a double row of fine large flowering Laurel 
and Catalpas — wch. afforded both shade and beauty.” 

Still another Middleton place, Otranto, has also survived, and 
is now a club house. It is a story and a half building, with dormer 
windows on the upper floor, and a wide porch supported on heavy 
pillars, running along three sides. The porch was probably a later 
addition. 

There is some doubt as to when the present house was built. 
Arthur Middleton must have lived here very early in the 18th cen¬ 
tury, and in 1706, as shown on old records, he donated four acres 
of land for the parsonage at Goose Creek. Although the old church 
there is in good condition, there seem to be no traces of the old par¬ 
sonage, and in 1796 Otranto was occupied by the rector, the Rever¬ 
end Porgson. About this clergyman Mrs. Leiding tells a delightful 
tale. 

He was an ardent fisherman, and one Sunday set out for church, 
his sermon under his arm, but his rod in hand. On the Goose Creek 
bridge he could not resist the temptation to throw a line, and suddenly 
hooked a big trout. So interested in his prize did he become that all 
unheeded, his sermon slipped from beneath his arm, and fell into 
the stream. 

The Otranto place was later occupied by Dr. Garden, after Whom 
the botanist, Linnaeus, named the gardenia. 

Middleton Gardens, now a Pinckney place, was originally part 
of the old Middleton grant. It is noted for the beautiful gardens 
stretching down to the river, only less lovely than the famous Magno¬ 
lia Gardens, which were laid out in 1750. An old Tudor house at 



46 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Middleton Gardens was burned, but one wing was saved, and around 
this the present residence was built. Set back at some distance from 
the highroad, the gardens are behind, on the river side. Arthur Mid¬ 
dleton, the Signer, is buried here. 

Beautiful Belvidere, on the west side of the Cooper River, is 
now the Charleston Country Club. 

Although the house is well over a century old, it is the second 
one built on this site. The name, Belvidere, was given it by the 
Shubrick family, wealthy English merchants, who bought the land 
before the Revolution, and built a house. Mrs. Leiding says that it 
was the home of three of the Colonial governors, Craven, John¬ 
son and Glen, but in that case, a still earlier house must have stood 
there. 

During the Revolution, at the time when Charleston was evacuated 
by the British, the American troops were stationed at Belvidere, and 
kept there until the British embarked and left the harbor, that there 
might be no conflict. 

In 1796, on a Sunday, as the family were coming from church, 
they saw smoke, and when they reached home, found that it had burned 
to the ground. The story goes that it 'had been set on fire by a negro 
maid, who was in love with the English gardener. He had suggested 
that she steal the family valuables, and when s!he had done so, he 
fled, leaving her alone to face the consequences. For some strange 
reason, she believed that by burning down the house the theft might 
escape detection, but such was not the case, for the terrified woman is 
said to have confessed both the theft and arson, for which she was 
hanged. Her ghost is believed to haunt the avenue where she used to 
meet her faithless lover. 

The house was soon re-built j it is this structure which serves as the 
Country Clubhouse. It is square, two-storied, of wood, with an attic, 
and set on a high basement of brick} two small, detached buildings 
are nearby. Square, high ceiled rooms, opening from a wide hall with 
a fanlighted entrance are found here, as is usual in houses of its period. 
The old dining room on the main floor has a corresponding apartment, 



6^ Early Charlestonians 3 Country Estates ^5 47 


the former ballroom, on the second floor, with decorated door¬ 
ways, and a fine mantel with an elaborate design of shells and sea¬ 
weed. 

The builder, Thomas Shubrick, distinguished himself in the Revo¬ 
lution, and married Miss Sarah Motte — not one of Rebecca Motte’s 
daughters, but perhaps a niece. She was a beauty and belle, and for 
these reasons, was selected to sit opposite Washington at the dinner 
given him in 1791. 

Two of the sons of this couple distinguished themselves at sea, 
Captain Templer in fighting the Barbary pirates. He was sent home 
to bear news of the victory over them, but the Hornet, on which 
he sailed, was lost, and he perished with it. Captain Edward Rutledge 
Shubrick was also lost at sea, and a monument was erected to him by 
the officers and men of his frigate, the Columbia, in old St. Philip’s 
churchyard. 

Just why, in view of his patriotic services, the estates of Thomas 
Shubrick should have been sequestered is hard to understand. He 
did recover them, but after the death of Captain Templer, who 
inherited the property, his widow never lived there, and it passed 
through several hands before being eventually acquired by the Country 
Club. 

A curious story is told of Mrs. Thomas Shubrick. One night she 
awoke suddenly from a dream in which she had seen her brother, 
floating on something white, out at sea. She wakened her husband 
and related the dream, but he reassured her, and she fell asleep 
again. But when she had the same dream three times, she finally 
insisted that her husband get up, dress, go to town, and hire a pilot 
boat to search the path of incoming vessels. Her husband yielded to 
her entreaties, but for three days the pilot boat cruised in vain. Then, 
when all must have been thoroughly convinced that the lady was 
quite mad, they spied something floating. Going nearer, it proved to 
be a hencoop, and clinging to it, almost exhausted, was Mrs. Shu- 
brick’s brother. The vessel on which he had sailed for Charleston had 
been lost at sea. 



48 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


A long avenue leads up to the porticoed Hampton. Entering, there 
is a spacious hall, the walls hung with old family portraits} and 
some fine old furniture has been preserved as well. On the first floor, 
in a wing, is a great ballroom, with a fireplace so large that it is said 
that five people can stand in it at once. Some of the old landscape 
paper, too, may still be seen on the walls of Hampton’s large cham¬ 
bers. Although this house was built in 1730, the original, about a mile 
away, is still older. Originally owned by Horrys, it has its ghost, but 
such a mild one! Apparently it has never been seen, merely heard, 
with a sound “like someone moving a carpet stealthily across the 
floor.” 

Fairfield, oldest place on the Santee, is the Pinckney estate, owned 
by Thomas, the first of that name to come to South Carolina in 1692. 
He it was who built the house on the corner of Tradd Street and 
South Bay, Charleston, mentioned in the preceding chapter. 

Thomas, the son of Charles Pinckney and Eliza Lucas, inherited 
Fairfield. From here he went as Minister to the Court of St. James 
while Jefferson was President, and went reluctantly. His wife is said 
to have “ been in tears almost ever since her husband’s appointment.” 
However, he served his country well there for four years, and later 
was Minister to Spain. Mrs. Pinckney and Martha Washington were 
on terms of cordial friendship. The Pinckneys visited at Mt. Vernon, 
and the two ladies evidently exchanged garden seeds, for a letter 
written by Mrs. Washington, thanking the other for a gift of “mel- 
lon seeds,” still exists. 

Mrs. Leiding quotes from the letters of an Englishman, who 
visited this country, spending three years here, and returning to Eng¬ 
land in 1824, published a book of his travels. This man, Adam Hodg¬ 
son, brought letters to General Thomas Pinckney, and was enter¬ 
tained by him at Fairfield. Hodgson was amazed at the number and 
size of its windows, and comments upon the tax on panes of glass in 
his native country. He also says: 

“ My host had an excellent library, comprising many recent and 
valuable British publications, and a more extensive collection of agri- 




Photo by George IV. Johnson 


Medway, the first brick house built outside of Charleston, S. C., and from bricks said 
to have been made on the plantation. The gables, like steps, are very unusual, and may 
have been built by Sieur dc Wernhaut, husband of the lady who later married one 

of the Landgraves Smith. 









Photo by George W. Johnson 


Headquarters House or Fenwick Castle, John’s Island. Cornwallis made his headquarters 
at one time in this old house now rapidly falling to ruin. It was built by one of South 
Carolina’s early settlers, Lord Ripon, who dropped his title. Nearby, the first owner laid 
out a race course, but no trace of it now remains. 



Photo by George IV. Johnson 


Mulberry Castle, with four quaint “flankers.” This is one of the pre-Revolutionary 
estates near Charleston, kept in good repair and occupied. It was used as a refuge and 
fort for families in the neighborhood during early fighting with the Indians. 












Early Charlestonians* Country Estates ^5 49 


cultural works than I had ever seen before in a private library. In 
works on botany and American ornithology the supply was large.” 

It was not so surprising as his guest thought that General Pinckney 
was interested in agriculture. He inherited this interest from 
his grandmother certainly, and probably from his grandfather as 
well. 

Eliza Lucas Pinckney took the greatest interest in the produce 
of her adopted country. She even made experiments in silk culture on 
her plantation, and in the Powder Magazine, Charleston, is preserved 
a dress of brocade in a charming design of flowers, on a gold colored 
background, which was made from silk which she raised. The prod¬ 
uce of her silk worms was sent to England, and three dress patterns 
woven from it, one being presented to the Queen of England, another 
to Lord Chesterfield, and the third returned to America for Mrs. 
Pinckney’s own wear. Another dress of “ dove’s neck ” brocade, with 
a design of flowers and palms on the dove colored background, care¬ 
fully preserved in the Magazine, was also Mrs. Pinckney’s property, 
and is likewise believed, although not known positively, to have been 
made from South Carolina silk. 

Before her marriage, she had “the business of three plantations 
to transact,” after her father returned to Antigua, for her mother’s 
health continued poor, in spite of the change in climate for which 
they had come to South Carolina. Eliza Lucas is said to have antici¬ 
pated, by experiments on her plantation, the raising of several varie¬ 
ties of tropical fruits, and futhermore it was on her plantation, along 
Wappoo Creek, that the first cultivated indigo was raised in South 
Carolina, in 1741-42. The plant had been discovered growing wild 
here. 

Mrs. Ravenel tells an anecdote of Fairfield as happening “ while 
the place belonged to Mrs. Rebecca Motte.” Fairfield never belonged 
to the Mottes, but Mrs. Rebecca’s daughter married General Thomas 
Pinckney, the owner. 

The mistress of the house was talking to a young American soldier 
one morning, when British soldiers were seen approaching. With ready 



50 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


presence of mind, she rolled the young American up in a great rug, 
and placed the roll against the wall, confident that it afforded a good 
hiding place. The soldiers arrived, and she proceeded to give her 
cook orders to prepare some chickens. Rashly the youth allowed his 
stomach to get the better of his discretion, for he stuck his head out 
of one end of the roll, and cried: 

“Keep the giblets for me! ” whereupon he was promptly made 
a prisoner. 

Another charming old place, Drayton Hall, is in excellent con¬ 
dition as regards the house, but the grounds are neglected and sadly 
fallen from former days, since its owner visits it but seldom. 

This property and the world famed Magnolia Gardens were origi¬ 
nally one estate j then it was divided between two brothers. The old 
house on Magnolia was burned by Sherman’s men, and a thoroughly 
modern one now stands in the beautiful gardens. During the season 
when the azaleas are loveliest, in March or early April, these gar¬ 
dens are open to the public. 

The Draytons were early settlers here, although they did not 
receive their lands as an original grant, but purchased them. Entering 
from the highway, through fine gates, there is a long avenue, then 
another pair of gates, beside which is one of the fish ponds mentioned 
in Miss Lucas’ letters, and which are characteristic of these river 
places. This one is now choked with waterlilies. 

From the drive, one approaches the rear of the square, red brick 
house, with a portico to which a double flight of steps ascends. The 
real front is toward the river, and probably in the old days, gardens 
sloped down from house to river’s edge. Much of the building material 
was brought from England, and inside the house is wainscoted from 
floor to ceiling. 

Mrs. Leiding is responsible for the statement that the seal of South 
Carolina was designed by two gentlemen of the neighborhood} one 
side by Arthur Middleton, the other by Chief Justice Drayton. She 
also mentions the story that it was at Drayton Hall that Eliza Lucas 
met her future husband, Chief Justice Pinckney. The two Pinckney 



6?^ Early Charlestonians’ Country Estates 51 


brothers and the future Chief Justice Drayton were fellow school¬ 
mates at Westminster, and later at Oxford University. 

Lord Cornwallis occupied the house while its owner was attending 
the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, where he died during the 
convention sessions. 

Several later generations of Draytons were physicians, and all of 
them took much interest in the gardens of Drayton Hall. 

John Davis, in his Travels in America in 1798, speaks of Drayton 
Hall as “a venerable mansion,” yet it was not then sixty years old. 
It had what was suspected of being a ghost, and many were the guests 
who, given a certain bedroom, retired, only to flee from the room with 
stories of the ghost they had seen. Later a more intrepid visitor did 
indeed awaken to see a figure in white, which vanished even as he 
watched it, but he discovered that the supposed ghost had left a sub¬ 
stantial impress on the bed where she had appeared to be sitting. It 
was discovered next day that the visitant was no ghost, but a sleep¬ 
walking daughter of the house. The gentleman “ laid ” the ghost, and 
married the daughter. 

One of the descendants of the Draytons, a Grimke, was obliged to 
change his name to Drayton, that he might inherit the property 
through his mother, and thus a Drayton has always owned it. 

Fairlawn, near the present village of Monck’s Corner, on the 
Cooper River, was the seat of the only member of the Colleton family 
who came to live permanently in the colony, although they held large 
grants of land. This one was the great-grandson of the original Lord 
Proprietor, Sir John Colleton, named by Charles II of England as 
one of the grantees of the Province. Sir John and his older sons never 
visited the Province, but .between the Ashley River and Wappoo Creek, 
the Waheewah Barony is supposed to be the site where Landgrave 
James Colleton, a younger son, built a fine residence. He was forced 
by his indignant subjects to leave. He also owned another barony, 
Wadpoo, on the Cooper River, where he had a fine stone house. 

In 1726, the Honorable John Colleton came to live on Fairlawn 
Barony, which also belonged to the family. Here he built what was 



52 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


said to be a magnificent mansion. This was burned by the British dur¬ 
ing the Revolution, to drive out Marion and his men, for they had 
been greatly annoyed by this gallant band, who lay in ambush for 
them behind the great cedars of the avenue leading to the house. The 
British first used it for a time as a storehouse, burning it when driven 
out in 1781. Brick ruins remain, showing it to have been one of the 
largest houses of its time in the state. A rare book, printed in 1821, by 
Mrs. Graves, the daughter and heiress of this Sir John, tells of the 
destruction of her home. 

“They burned down the mansion . . . and destroyed every 
building, including a Town built on the Barony for the residence of 
several people belonging to the estate, with the granaries, mills, etc. 
On this occasion, in addition to the furniture, paintings, and books, 
plate, etc., a large sum of money which was in my father’s strong box, 
and my jewels, were lost, either destroyed or plundered.” 

The land on which Yeamans’ Hall stands is said to have been pur¬ 
chased from the family of Governor John Yeamans by Governor 
Thomas Smith, and given to his son. In any case, a Governor Smith 
lived there as early as 1693. The old house stood in good condition 
until the earthquake of 1886, when it was severely damaged, and later 
burned. It has recently been repaired, a story and a half old building, 
and a number of bungalows have been built near it, all serving as liv¬ 
ing quarters during the summer and hunting seasons for a club of gen¬ 
tlemen of Charleston and the vicinity. 

Mulberry Castle, the Broughton estate on the western branch of 
the Cooper River, was built in 1714, on land transferred six years 
earlier to Thomas Broughton by Sir John Colleton. It comprised 4423 
acres, part of the original tract granted to Sir John’s father, Sir Peter 
Colleton. There was some misunderstanding about the boundaries of 
the Broughton tract, and when Mr. Broughton began building, it was 
found that he had unwittingly encroached upon Sir John’s estate of 
Fairlawn. The matter was easily adjusted between the two gentlemen 
by simply exchanging three hundred acres of each plantation. 

The curious old house which Broughton then built on his land, 



Early Charlestonians* Country Estates 53 


for which he retained the early name of Mulberry, is said to be a 
replica of the old Broughton home at Seaton, England, as depicted on 
the Broughton family tree which they brought over to America with 
them. Thomas Broughton was the first of the Royal Lieutenant-Gov¬ 
ernors, and one of the signers of the Church Act, separating Church 
and State. 

A two-story house, with dormer windows, the original Dutch roof 
now replaced by a mansard, it has at each corner a detached room, 
oddly known as a flanker. As is often the case, the bricks of which the 
house is built are said to have been brought from England. There does 
not seem to have been much clay suitable for brick-making in this part 
of the State. Medway seems the first of the Carolina estates in con¬ 
nection with which brick-making is mentioned. 

The strongest house in this section of the country, on a high bluff, 
overlooking the river, Mulberry Castle was used as a refuge for women 
and children when Indians threatened, being one of the three u forts ” 
mentioned as existing during the Indian wars of 1715. 

Each of the flankers has a trap door in the floor, and beneath, a 
deep cellar, stone paved, in which ammunition was stored. Not many 
years ago, a small cannon, thought to pre-date the Revolution, was 
dug up in a field near the house. 

Colonel Thomas Broughton figures prominently in the history 
of the Colony. He, Robert Gibbes and Fortescue Turbeville were 
deputies. The Governor, Tynte by name, died, and two sessions were 
held to elect his successor. Turbeville voted for Gibbes, who was there¬ 
upon proclaimed the Governor, but almost immediately thereafter 
Turbeville had an apoplectic stroke, and died. It was then discovered 
in some manner that he had voted at the first session for Broughton, 
but before the second had accepted a bribe, and cast his vote at the 
later session for Gibbes. Thereupon Broughton claimed the office, and 
came from Mulberry with an armed force to take possession. Gibbes 
closed the city gates, raised the drawbridge, but apparently Broughton’s 
men gained entry, for there was fierce fighting in the square at the 
foot of Broad Street, Charleston, in front of the watch house, now the 



54 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§9 


old Exchange, and in the “ half moon opposite old St. Philip’s,” where 
now St. Michael’s stands. 

During the Revolution, Colonel Broughton, because of outspoken 
dislike of the British — this must have been the son of Thomas men¬ 
tioned above — was “ disciplined ” by Cornwallis, and had a troop of 
horse stationed at Mulberry. 

Colonel Broughton himself had a narrow escape from the British 
soldiersj his life probably, his liberty certainly, being saved by one 
of his negro u patroons ” or shipmasters. The British were approach¬ 
ing Mulberry, and he could hardly have escaped them, but one of 
his rice boats lay at the landing in the river. To this boat Broughton 
ran, the negro made him lie flat on the deck, then covered him with 
a small boat. Although the soldiers searched the vessel, it apparently 
did not occur to them to lift the small boat, or the negro managed in 
some way to divert their attention. After their departure, Broughton 
was able to get away safely. 

Thomas Broughton’s ghost is said to walk up and down the stairs 
of Mulberry Castle, and along its corridors, but no explanation of the 
uneasy spirit wanderings has ever been given. 

Two miles from Mulberry Castle, the old house known as Exeter 
is still standing. It, too, was built on land transferred by Sir John 
Colleton in 1767, to Mary Broughton, adjoining the tract already 
transferred by him to Thomas and Nathaniel Broughton. None the 
less, the house is supposed to have been built in 1712. Sir Nathaniel 
Johnson is believed to have lived here at one time, but the house has 
another interesting bit of history connected with it. It was the home 
of “ Mad Archie ” Campbell, whose exploit of carrying off the lady 
of his choice, and marrying her at the point of a pistol, has already 
been told. 

“ Mad Archie,” who assuredly deserved his sobriquet, was de¬ 
scended from the royal house of Argyle. He was an ardent loyalist, 
and his early death came about in this manner: 

A battle was fought at Videau’s Ridge, between the British cavalry 
under Coffin, and the American troops under Colonel Richard Rich- 



Early Charlestonians* Country Estates 55 


ardson. The Americans were at first victorious, and took a number 
of prisoners, among these “ Mad Archie ” who was captured by 
two Venning brothers. One of them took the prisoner on his horse 
behind him, and when Campbell attempted to escape, shot him 
dead. 

Exeter is another of the two-story brick houses, the bricks laid in 
Flemish bond style. Several Revolutionary skirmishes occurred near 
the old house. 

Adjoining Mulberry on the south is Lewisfield, standing on an¬ 
other part of the original Colleton grant, which was transferred in 
1767 to Sedgwick Lewis. According to Johnson’s Traditions of the 
Revolution y Miss Sarah Lewis in 1774 married Keating Simons, and 
it was this couple therefore who owned the place during the Revolu¬ 
tion. When Charleston was taken by the British, Simons was allowed 
to return to his country home on parole. One day, Lord Cornwallis, 
on his way from Camden to Charleston, sent a courier to announce 
that he and his “ family ” would dine with Mr. Simons the following 
day. 

“Accordingly Mr. Simons provided amply for his reception; 
killed a lamb for the occasion and poultry and other plantation fare in 
abundance, and arranged his sideboard in accordance. But his lord- 
ship had his own cook and baggage wagon with him, and was well 
served by those who knew his inclinations. Accordingly they killed 
the old ewe, the mother of the lamb; and on Mr. Simons telling the 
Scotchwoman, the cook, that this was unnecessary, and showing the 
provisions, she replied that his lordship knew how to provide for him¬ 
self wherever he went.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Simons were kindly invited to have dinner with 
their unbidden guests. Mr. Simons accepted for himself, but announced 
that he “ could not think of his wife becoming a guest instead of pre¬ 
siding at her own table,” and told his lordship that his wife was 
“otherwise engaged.” Mr. Simons had provided some of his best 
wines, but Cornwallis “ enquired of his aides if they did not bring 
with them some of his old Madeira, and called for a bottle or two.” 



56 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


It proved afterwards that this Madeira had been carried off from Mr. 
Mazyck’s plantation when Cornwallis visited it. 1 

Mrs. Leiding tells another good story about this old place. 

At about this time, General Wade Hampton was paying court to 
Mr. Simon’s sister. One day, arriving on horseback to visit the lady 
of his choice, he found a party of British, who had landed from two 
boats which had gone aground on the river bank. Hampton wheeled 
his horse, galloped back and shouted to his command; they came up, 
engaged the enemy, taking a number of prisoners, and burned the 
two boats. The British instantly suspected Mr. Simons, whether justly 
or unjustly does not appear, of complicity in the matter, and a company 
of Black Dragoons was sent from Charleston to capture him, and bring 
him in dead or alive. Simons learned of this, escaped to the swamp, 
and joined General Marion, with whom he remained until the end 
of the war. 

Lewisfield is now a clubhouse for a group of Charleston gentle¬ 
men. 

Where the Cooper River divides, forming two branches, on the 
point thus formed, Captain John Coming, already mentioned as an 
early landowner in Charleston, settled and named his place Coming’s 
Tee. His wife, Affra Harleston, of well connected English folk, came 
to this country as a bondwoman, and one writer has thought to trace a 
romance here, namely, that the well-bred English girl fell in love with 
the captain, and took this step to join him, since her parents did not con¬ 
sider him good enough as a husband for their daughter. However 
this may be, the two were married shortly after their arrival in the 
new country. 

They had no children, and at their death the property passed to 
Captain Coming’s half brother, Elias Ball, who married one of Affra’s 
sisters. She died about 1720, and eleven months later, the widower 
married Mary Delamere, who was about the age of his eldest daughter. 
They had seven children, four of whom died, and the property has 
remained in the Ball family ever since. 

1 Historic Houses of South Carolina, Harriette Kershaw Leiding. 



Early Charlestonians* Country Estates ^§5 57 


An old brick house, built either by Captain Coming or Elias Ball, 
is still standing on the property. 

A history of the Ball family describes the original house as hav¬ 
ing but two rooms on each of the two stories, with great old fire¬ 
places, carved cornices and paneling. In 1833, an addition as large 
as the original house was built on by John Ball, who then owned it. 

The grounds run down to the river, and it may also be approached 
by either of two avenues leading from the highroads along the two 
branches of the river. 

There was a wedding here in 1750, when Henry Laurens married 
Eleanor Delamere, in “ a splendid room, carpeted with crimson and 
black, set round with crimson covered chairs and tables ... a pure 
white ceiling, bordered by gold ... a shower of glass drops, hanging 
in silver chains from the centre was shimmering with little soft tapers.” 
The son of this couple was Colonel John Laurens, of the Revolution¬ 
ary Army. 

In 1781, this Colonel Laurens was sent to France to negotiate a 
loan with the French Government. He was put off on one pretext 
and another, from March until May, when he became impatient, and 
resolved to take matters in his own hands, and wait for no more dip¬ 
lomatic dawdling. The Count de Vergennes, in an interview, spoke 
of the favor that Laurens was asking, but the Colonel refused to 
admit that it was a favor, and observed: 

“ But as the last argument I shall use with Your Excellency, the 
sword which I now wear in defense of France as well as of my own 
country, unless the succour I solicit is immediately accorded, I may 
be compelled within a short time to draw against France as a British 
subject.” 

The next day, he followed up this speech by himself handing a 
memorial to the King at a public function, to the astonishment of the 
monarch, and dismay of his courtiers. However, this manoeuvre was 
successful, and the following day, Baron Neckar told him that the 
Count de Grasse, with twenty-five ships, was on his way to America, 
and that a loan of 1,500,000 livres had been granted. 



58 


( fyl { Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


At Yorktown, when Colonel Ross complained for Lord Corn¬ 
wallis of the harshness of the terms that the Americans were demand¬ 
ing, namely, that the British troops should march out of the camp with 
colors cased, and drums beating a British or German march, Laurens 
replied: 

“ You seem to forget that I was a capitulant at Charleston, where 
General Lincoln, after a brave defense of six weeks in open trenches, 
by a very inconsiderable garrison, against the British Army and Fleet, 
was refused any other terms than marching out with colors cased, 
and drums not beating a British or German march.” 

James Burch ell Richardson, Governor in 1802 of South Carolina, 
was a son of General Richard Richardson of Virginia, who came to 
South Carolina from Virginia in 1725. The General received a 
grant where now is Clarendon, and from 1754 to 1760 was member 
of the Assembly for Prince Frederick. He was Justice of the Peace, 
Colonel of militia, and during the Snow campaigns against the Tories, 
in 1775, quelled the revolt, for which he received the thanks of the 
Provincial Congress. Despite his age, he was a Brigadier General 
in the Revolutionary Army, and with the Hon. William H. Drayton, 
was commissioned by the Committee of Safety to “ make progress 
through the back country to explain the causes of the present dis¬ 
pute between England and the Colonies, and secure a General Union 
of the people.” He was more than seventy years old when Tarleton 
took him prisoner, dragging him from his home, and setting him on 
a horse behind a trooper, sent him to a British prison ship in Charleston 
harbor. While prisoner, Cornwallis offered him titles and offices under 
the Crown if he would join them, but he refused, and left the ship 
only to die before the end of the war. Soon after his death, Tarleton 
visited Clarendon, and with his own hand applied the torch, burning it 
to the ground, while he had General Richardson’s body disinterred and 
left until the entreaties of the family finally persuaded him to allow 
it to be re-buried. No old Richardson place has survived. 

A Richardson married Richard Manning, first Governor of South 
Carolina of that name, from 1824-26. This couple were the parents 



Early Charlestonians’ Country Estates 59 


of John L. Manning, Governor in 1852, hence the former Miss 
Richardson was the wife, mother, sister and daughter of a governor, 
and had she lived long enough, would also have been the great- 
aunt of a third Richard Manning, the War governor, six of whose sons 
served in our army overseas. The house built by John L. Manning at 
great expense, still stands near Clarendon, but is no longer owned by 
the family. 

Continuing towards Wedgefield, an old house known as Melrose, 
although sadly fallen from a former estate, deserves mention. It 
is the original house built by the “ emigrant,” Colonel Matthew Single- 
ton, who was born in England in 1730, and came to this country as a 
youth, and was married here when but twenty years old. About the 
time of his marriage he built this house, a simple structure, with 
three rooms on each of two stories, and a great chimney at each end. 
Later it was enlarged, but the fine home which Colonel Matthew built 
for his son, Captain John, a few miles further up the road, when the 
son married Rebecca, daughter of General Richard Richardson, al¬ 
though it survived the Civil War, was burned shortly after that 
through the carelessness of a refugee family, allowed to take shelter 
there. 

The same fate befell Home Place, another Singleton house built 
for Captain John’s son (in which his daughter, Angelica, who mar¬ 
ried President Van Buren’s son, and presided at the White 
House, was born), so only the oldest of the three Singleton houses 
survives. This family made a large fortune by shipping indigo and 
cotton down the river from Manchester, a thriving town near their 
estates, but it would be vain to search for any trace of Manchester now. 
It disappeared with the coming of the railway, even the chimneys of 
the old houses having been carried away. 

Both Captain Singleton and his father served in the Revolution¬ 
ary Army. The elder was one of those who drew up resolutions to 
be presented to the General Assembly of South Carolina, reading 
in part: 

“Resolved to maintain our Constitutional Right at the hazzard 



6o 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§9 


of our lives and fortunes, and this to be laid before the General 
Assembly.” He and the father of his daughter-in-law, General 
Richardson, were also delegates to the Congress of the Province 
of South Carolina, assembled in Charles Towne on January i ith, 1775. 

Matthew Singleton was with Marion, and at one time, when near 
his home, Melrose, was stricken with smallpox. He concealed him¬ 
self in the swamp but a few miles away, and was tended by a trusty 
slave. In the swamps the Americans, who alone knew them well, were 
fairly safe from discovery by the British. The question of food for 
the sick man was solved by sending the slave every night to Melrose. 
Here, according to instructions, he tapped at a lower window pane, 
whereupon Mrs. Singleton opened the second story window above, 
and lowered a basket of food, at the same time receiving and sending 
messages. 

The captain recovered to fight on to the end of the war, but 
died in 1787. His son died in 1820, when sixty-six years old. 

Although the son John’s house burned, and although a later de¬ 
scendant cut down the beautiful hedge of hawthorne and crabapple, 
which had been planted English-fashion to separate the estate from 
the road, two things remain from the days of its builder, Captain 
Matthew, and the occupant, John. 

First, the highroad here was originally very bad in wet weather, 
for the soil was clay. Captain John tired of seeing the big wagons on 
their way from North Carolina, laden with pitch, tar and turpentine, 
get stuck in the roads; he tired of hearing the wagoners cursing and 
swearing. So he had many loads of sand hauled, and this mingled 
with the clay produced an excellent road which lasted until recent 
times. A northerner who came to this part of the country, and brought 
with him a trotting horse accustomed to roads near New York City, 
declared that this stretch of road passing old Midway, as the second 
Singleton place was called, was the only place where his horse could 
trot in all that countryside. 

The other remnant of days long past is the fine old avenue of trees 
which led from the highroad to the mansion. They were still stand- 



6^ Early Charlestonians* Country Estates ^5 61 


ing a few years ago at least, and with them is linked Midway’s ghost. 
The ghost, apparently, made but a single appearance. 

It has been told that the Singletons had large cotton interests, 
and Captain Matthew sent his son to England on one of his sailing 
vessels, with a load of cotton, as soon as he reached manhood. 

Following family custom, Captain John duly sent his son John, 
eldest of the family. Finally the day when the ship might be expected 
to arrive in Charleston on the return voyage drew near. In those days, 
with sailing vessels, of course the date could be but approximately 
fixed j nor would news of its safe arrival in port be obtained until 
some one arrived at Midway from the city. To have quick means for 
the son of the house to reach home and his anxious mother, his own 
saddle horse was sent down to Charleston in charge of a negro, several 
days before the earliest day when the young master might be ex¬ 
pected. 

Then, one bright moonlight summer night, Mrs. Singleton was 
awakened from sleep by the rapid hoofbeats of a horse coming up the 
long avenue. She left her bed, hurried to the window overlooking 
the avenue, and saw her son on his horse. As he rode around the house 
towards the stable, he looked up directly into her face, and waved 
his hand. She hurried to rouse her husband, and he descended to 
open the house door for his heir, but there was no one in sight. Finally 
he alarmed the groom, and bade him open the stable door, but there 
was no sign of either horse or rider. 

The negro was the first to grasp what had happened. 

“ Oh, Miss,” he wailed, “ you’ll never see Marse John again. 
That was his ghos! ” 

She never did see her son again, but when several days later 
the ship safely reached port, the captain came himself to bring sad 
tidings to the Singleton household. On the very night that his mother 
had seen him, bright moonlight, the captain told, the young man had 
gone on deck for a last walk before turning in for the night. He never 
was seen again, and it was supposed that in some sudden toss or roll 
of the ship he had gone overboard. 



62 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Near Stateburg is a place always known as The Ruins, although 
those visiting the house may well wonder at the name, for there are 
no ruins in sight. 

Long ago, on the hill near this house, stood the residence of 
General Sumter. Mrs. Sumter, a helpless paralytic, was living here 
when the British appeared, and was alone in the house with her 
niece. Her husband was away with his menj her nephew, a boy of 
thirteen, had fled at news of the soldiers’ coming to hide his thor¬ 
oughbred horse in the swamp, which he did successfully, and then from 
a hiding place in the top of a tree, watched what was happening at his 
home. 

Had it not been for her niece, Mrs. Sumter might have been 
burned to death, for the soldiers were preparing to set fire to the 
house, and she could not move. The girl persuaded them to carry 
the invalid out in her chair, which they did, depositing it on the lawn, 
from which Mrs. Sumter watched the destruction of her home and all 
of her belongings. One soldier, feeling sorry for her, presented her with 
a ham from her own smokehouse, hiding it among the cushions and 
blankets of the chair, that it might not be seen and taken by his com¬ 
rades. General Sumter was called by the British “ the greatest plague 
in the South,” and they had no pity for his family. 

After the soldiers left, Mrs. Sumter is said to have taken refuge 
in the neighboring Hill Crest. 

It was not from the ruins of General Sumter’s home that the place 
derived its present name. After the Revolution, General Sumter sold 
it, and the new owner built the present house, but not on the old site. 
After living in it for many years, the family moved west, the house 
was unoccupied, and rapidly falling to ruins when the present owner 
bought it. While repairs were being made, she used to remark that 
she was driving up to The Ruins to see how work was progressing. 
The name has persisted ever since. 

Hill Crest, on the opposite side of the road, survived attacks in 
both the Revolution and the Civil War. 

Its exact age is not known. In the early days of the Revolution, 



6 % Early Charlestonians* Country Estates ^5 63 


Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hooper came from Charleston, probably for 
greater safety, and purchased the house then standing from Adam F. 
Brisbane. Mr. Hooper was a brother of William Hooper, one of the 
Signers. His wife’s father was Captain Benjamin Heron, who after 
serving in the Royal Navy, settled on Cape Fear, and married the great- 
granddaughter of the colonial South Carolina Governor James Moore. 
Later, he went to England, and it seems possible that to her father 
Mrs. Hooper may have owned the sparing of herself, her family and 
home from molestation by the British, for Captain Heron had been 
prominent in the colonial government, in addition to his naval service, 
having been deputy auditor and secretary, and clerk of pleas and 
of the Crown, an office with extensive patronage and perquisites. 

He was also for many years chairman of His Majesty’s Council, 
and when he died, in 17 70, was buried in Windsor Castle, and trib¬ 
ute paid to his valuable and efficient services. It would seem that the 
British who soon appeared near Mrs. Hooper’s home, knew of this 
gentleman, for although Cornwallis made Hill Crest his headquarters, 
the only damage done was the now prized mark of a musket butt on 
one door. Cornwallis was here in pursuit of General Sumter and his 
gallant band. 

Later, the house was headquarters for General Nathaniel 
Greene, and the Colonial troops burned the initials: C.A., for Con¬ 
tinental Army, on another door, this mark being still more prized 
by the present owners. 

On the estate is a great tree, known as the Tory oak, because a tale 
has it that a Tory spy was hanged to its branches. 

When the Hoopers bought the place, the house was built of laths 
and plaster. Their niece, who lived with them, married Dr. William 
Wallace Anderson, of Maryland, whose father was Colonel Richard 
Anderson, of the Continental Army, while the bride, Miss Mackenzie, 
traced her descent from a brother of the great Scot, William Wallace. 

To this couple Hill Crest passed, after the deaths of the Hoopers. 
Dr. Anderson had already done much to beautify house and gardens, 
and became fascinated with pise construction because of its soft color- 



64 Historic Houses of Early America 


ing. He accordingly tore down both wings of the house, and re-built 
them of pise, leaving the central portion as originally. Five outbuild¬ 
ings on the estate, and the church at Stateburg, not far away, are also 
of pise, said to be the only group of that construction in the country. 

Dr. Anderson’s three sons served in the Confederate Army; one 
became a general, another Surgeon General, the third, who was killed 
early in the war, a captain. The second married Miss Virginia 
Childs, daughter of Brigadier General Thomas Childs, of Massachu¬ 
setts. This lady was none the less thoroughly in sympathy with the 
Confederate cause. 

She was living with her children in Wilmington, North Carolina, 
when General Sherman came to that town. Now her father 'had been 
Sherman’s commanding officer, and as a child she had known Sherman 
well. Recalling this, Mrs. Anderson determined to ask protection for 
her children, herself and her home, so lest one miscarry, she dispatched 
three notes by three different messengers to the General. It happened 
that all three reached him, and in time he rode to the house of his 
former young friend. Rather severely he remarked: 

“ Do you know that you have written me three notes to-day? ” 
Then: “What do you want, Virginia? ” 

“Protection for my family and house,” promptly. 

“Where is your husband, Virginia?” continued Sherman. 

“Fighting for his country.” 

“ What would your father say to you, Virginia, with a husband a 
rebel? ” 

“ My father would say my place was with my husband, but what 
would my father say to you, Tecumseh,” with spirit, “ fighting women 
and children? ” 

A guard was sent by the General to protect Mrs. Anderson’s house, 
but as her daughter said, in telling this: “ He could not protect the 
chickens in the back yard.” After a time, there was an exciting scramble 
between the Federal soldiers and the Anderson children as to who 
should first get the chickens. 

Mrs. Anderson, Senior, was at Hill Crest when General Potter’s 





6?^ Early Charlestonians 1 Country Estates )$$$ 65 


raiders passed through the country, and they swarmed over the place, 
helping themselves to whatever they could carry off, and damaging 
some of the furniture. Of course they also bagged chickens, but spared 
the house, which is still occupied by the descendants of Dr. Anderson of 
the Confederate Army. It is in beautiful preservation, a fine specimen 
of a colonial house, and the grounds and garden are charming. 

The Hon. Joel R. Poinsett, after whom the beautiful flower intro¬ 
duced into this country from Mexico is named, died at Hill Crest, 
while on a visit in 1851 to his friend, Dr. Anderson. 























Chapter IV 

6 % The First English Settlement ^§5 


For many years it was believed that the sole surviving fragment of 
the buildings which once stood on Jamestown Island, the first English 
settlement in the United States, was the lonely old tower of our first 
Protestant church. There it stood, isolated, square, still substantial, 
draped with ivy, and close to the river which winds around the low- 
lying island on which the first English settlers landed. Time has 
proved that this belief was a mistake. 

In 1901, excavations revealed the foundations and brick arches of 
the old church, the aisles and chancel tombs. The owners of the island 
had given the twenty or more acres, upon part of which tower and 
church stand, to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia An¬ 
tiquities, that the excavations might be made. It is now known that 
while a church was built here in 1607, the tower probably belonged to 
the third, or even the fourth one built on this site, the latter in 1647. 
Further excavations revealed more, for the foundations of three brick 
houses, probably the first built here, and perhaps as early as 1607, were 
later uncovered. 

It will be recalled that these English colonists sailed from England 
December 19th, 1606, and after lingering in sight of the English 
coast for six weeks, because of “ unprosperous winds,” finally made the 
trip across that unknown waste of water, the Atlantic ocean. 

They landed on Jamestown Island, and although the settlement 
had less than a century of life, the climate proving too “ insalubri- 
tious,” here they built a church and held regular services daily, for 

66 



6^ The First English Settlement 


67 


they had come to the new world to extend the doctrines of the Church 
of England, not to escape religious persecution. 

The houses whose foundations have been uncovered by the exca¬ 
vations are those mentioned in the Ludwell patent in 1694, and show 
that the buildings, as proved by the foundation walls, were three in 
number, apparently adjoining, the length being two hundred and forty 
feet, the depth varying from twenty-four to forty-six feet. These 
walls were found from one to five feet below the surface, and are be¬ 
lieved to be the foundations of “ Philip Ludwell’s country house,” 
the state house and one other. James Towne was, it is thought, never 
more than a straggling settlement of perhaps a score of houses. 

Here in James Towne, on July 30th, 1619, more than a year be¬ 
fore the Mayflower sailed into Cape Cod Bay, the first general legis¬ 
lative assembly ever held in America met, and the day after assem¬ 
bling, petitioned the London Company, under Whose direction they 
then lived — the British Government had not yet taken over the prov¬ 
ince — for workmen to build a university at Henrycropolis, further up 
the James River. This university was begun, the first English educa¬ 
tional institution on American soil, but all traces of the buildings were 
wiped out in the Indian uprising and massacre. In 1624, Virginia be¬ 
came a royal province. 

Eight years later, Dr. John Pott secured a patent for 1200 acres 
of land at the head of Archer’s Hope Creek, probably adjoining the 
tract on which William and Mary College was built, and a year later, 
a palisade six miles long was built across the peninsula from the head 
of Archer’s Hope to that of Queen’s Creek, the former a tributary of 
the York, the latter of the James River. On the ridge between the two 
rivers, close to the palisade, a settlement known as Middle Plantation 
was made. Even before Jamestown was burned to the ground during 
the Bacon revolt in 1676, some of the settlers had begun moving up 
the river to the newer and healthier site. 

At the mouth of Gray’s Creek is the Smith Fort farm, where the 
outlines of old earthworks, built under the direction of Captain John 
Smith, in 1608-09 may still be traced. The brick house fifty feet long 



68 


Historic Houses of Early America 


standing here is said to be the oldest in Virginia, the land having be¬ 
longed to Thomas Rolfe, son of Pocahontas. He is said to have sold 
the land to Thomas Warren, who built in 1654 the house now owned 
by a negro. But it is also asserted positively that the old chimney, 
which is of different construction, actually belonged to the house in 
which John Rolfe and his wife, Pocahontas herself, lived. Bishop 
Meade is one of those who believed this when he visited the spot, some 
time between 1838 and 1857. He says that the material of which this 
chimney was built was of “ marl, mixed with seashells crushed in a kind 
of cement, extremely hard and durable.” 

Four miles from Jamestown the ruins of Green Springs, former 
residence of Governor Berkeley of the Virginia Colony, exist, with 
outlines of some of the high arched window frames. In the fine house 
once standing here were entertained many cavaliers, who took refuge 
in the loyal colony after Charles II was banished from England. 
Nathaniel Bacon stopped here on his way to Jamestown, and again, 
after burning that town, on his way back, making it his headquarters, 
for Berkeley had taken refuge on a ship in the river. Since the 
state house in Jamestown had been burned with the other buildings, 
the first Assembly held after Bacon’s revolt met in this Govrnor’s 
house. 

After Sir William’s death, his widow, Lady Frances, married 
Philip Ludwell, whose Jamestown “ country house ” had burned 
with the others. Her cousin, Lord Culpepper, rented Green Springs 
from them while he was Governor of the colony. It passed to the Lee 
family when Hannah Phillips, daughter of the third Colonel Ludwell, 
married William Lee, who served as United States Minister to Vienna 
and Berlin. The second house on this site, now ruins, was built by their 
son, William Lee, but there still survive some of the apple, cherry and 
peach trees which Governor Berkeley planted. Although his widow 
married again, on her tombstone in Jamestown was inscribed: Lady 
Berkeley. 

Near Smithfield, Surry County, there is still standing on the James 
River an old red brick house known as Bacon’s Castle. But although 




Courtesy of the Albertype Co., Brooklyn , N. Y. 


Tazewell Hall, home of Sir John Randolph, Attorney for the Royal Commonwealth 
of Virginia. Peyton Randolph was born here, as was Edmund Randolph, later Governor 
of Virginia. It stood on one of the four converging plantations on the site of what later 

became Williamsburg. 



Courtesy of the Albertype Co , Brooklyn , N. Y. 


The Moore house, Yorktown, Virginia, home of the Royal Governor Spottwood. In 
this house the Articles of Agreement were drawn in 1781, between the Americans and 

the English. 


\ 











Courtesy of the Albcrtype Co., Brooklyn, N. Y. 


Home of John Blair, Senior, President of the Council of Virginia and Acting Governor 
of the Colony; also of his son, John Blair, Junior, appointed by President Washington 
on the first Supreme Court of the United States. The old doorstep was brought here 
from Williamsburg’s first theatre, long since gone. 



Courtesy o) the Albertype Co., Brooklyn, N. Y. 


Home of the Hon. Peyton Randolph, First President of the Continental Congress, 
which met in Philadelphia in 1774. He was also Provincial Grand Master of Masons, 
Virginia. This old Williamsburg house is in excellent preservation, and still a private 

residence. 


































The First English Settlement ^5 


69 


this house figured prominently in Bacon’s Rebellion, Bacon himself 
never occupied it or owned it. 

It was built of bricks brought from England in 1655, by Arthur 
Allen, and for those days was a mansion, with large, high-ceiled, pan¬ 
eled rooms. At each end are three chimneys, set close together, a 
curious arrangement said to be unique in this country. Although mod¬ 
ern owners have made some changes and additions, these have been 
done so as to affect the general appearance but little, with the excep¬ 
tion of a modern porch, and the old house is still a residence. 

During Bacon’s rebellion, it was seized and fortified by three of 
his followers, Lieutenant Colonel William Rookings, Captain Robert 
Burgess and Captain Arthur Long, and for nearly four months stood 
off all attacks. Finally, in December, 1676, it was taken by a force 
from the ship, Young Prince, lying in the river, under command of 
Robert Morris. Probably at that time the small brass cannon were 
mounted in the attic windows, remaining there until comparatively 
recent times. From that same period must date the love letter scratched 
with a diamond, covering with fine writing several panes of glass in a 
window of a barred dungeon in the cellar. No one knows now who the 
writer was, or to whom the letter was addressed. 

Bacon’s own place is said by Mr. T. Beverly Campbell, writing re¬ 
cently for the Richmond Times Dispatch , to have been the Curie’s 
Neck plantation, further up the James River. As this place was owned 
at an early date by the Randolphs, it is possible that they bought it in 
when it must have been confiscated by the Royal Governor. Bacon is 
also said to have owned a place called “ Bacon’s Quarter,” within the 
present city limits of Richmond, its site now occupied, as Mr. Camp¬ 
bell states, by the American Locomotive Company’s plant, and the 
small stream nearby is still known as Bacon’s Quarter Branch. 

Nathaniel Bacon, leader of the rebellion, was a wealthy man, a 
graduate of Cambridge University, England. The uprising was a pro¬ 
test of the colonists against the adminstration of the governor, Sir 
William Berkeley, and an act of the British Parliament, recently 
passed, directing that all goods intended for Virginia must be sent to 



70 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


England first, and there re-shipped in English vessels. There was also 
objection to intercolonial duties, and especially there was dissatisfaction 
when, in 1673, all of the revenues of the colony were turned over to 
Lord Culpepper and Lord Arlington, the two nobles to whom Charles 
II had given over the colony. Furthermore, the Virginians considered 
that Governor Berkeley had done nothing to protect them against the 
Indians. 

Bacon was a member of the Colonial Council, and finally, at the 
head of a band of colonists, he attacked the Indians and captured 
their fort. He was appointed commander of the Virginia forces, but 
Governor Berkeley refused to sign his commission, although he later 
yielded to popular demand, and did so. The two men were now 
enemies, and before long Bacon was proclaimed a traitor, and took up 
arms against the Governor and his forces. 

When he attacked Jamestown, Berkeley fled to a warship, and 
the town was, as mentioned, burned, but shortly after that Bacon died, 
his followers lost heart, and Berkeley returning established himself 
in power. He took such cruel revenge on Bacon’s followers that his 
sovereign, Charles II, is said to have exclaimed: “That old fool has 
taken away more lives in that naked country than I for the murder 
of my father.” 

Meanwhile, Middle Plantation had grown, and in 1676 was the 
meeting place of a convention called by Bacon to protest against 
Governor Berkeley. 

In 1698, since Jamestown had not been re-built, and had long 
been thought “ insalubritious,” Governor Francis Nicholson made 
Middle Plantation the seat of government, and the following year 
an act was passed, providing for the building of a capitol, the chief 
street was named Duke of Gloucester, in honor of Queen Anne’s 
oldest son, a name retained to-day, and the town became known as 
Williamsburg, oldest incorporated city in the United States. It re¬ 
mained the capital of Virginia until after the election to the Presidency 
of Thomas Jefferson, when, through his influence, it was succeeded 
by Richmond. The old office of the Secretary of the Colony, now a 



The First English Settlement 


7 i 


private residence, a story and a half brick building, used from 1705 to 
1776 as the office, still stands near the Green on which is the site of 
the old Capitol, burned in 1832. 

In the early days, while the settlement was still called Middle 
Plantation, four plantations centred in the town site, each with a 
dwelling built in the adjoining corners, so that the occupants were 
near neighbors. These four houses were Bassett Hall, Tazewell Hall, 
Garrett’s and Wheatland. Mrs. Bassett and Martha Washington were 
sisters. 

Bassett Hall is a fine old house, still a private residence, and in 
excellent condition. Set well back from Francis Street, an avenue bor¬ 
dered with fine trees leads to the front door. There is a wide hall 
paneled, with broad staircase mounting by two landings to the second 
floor, and rail and bannisters are hand carved. 

The dining room in the rear is filled with old family portraits, 
silver and fine old furniture j the front rooms are respectively draw¬ 
ing room and library. At the time that he succeeded to the Presidency, 
John Tyler was living in this house, and was in the library when a 
messenger arrived in Williamsburg to notify him of the death of 
President Harrison, and Tyler’s consequent succession. Washington 
was often entertained here in the early days, and it is said that the 
Irish poet, Tom Moore, wrote his poem, “ The Firefly,” while visit¬ 
ing here. The house has a romance connected with it as well. 

Before the Civil War, Custer, later as General to meet a tragic 
fate, and Lieutenant Lee were bosom friends. The war found them 
on opposing sides, and Lee was wounded and nursed back to health 
in Bassett Hall. His nurse was Miss Burfeyj patient and nurse fell 
in love, and became engaged to be married. The wedding day was 
set while Williamsburg was besieged by Federal troops, but Captain 
Custer came through Federal and Confederate lines under a flag 
of truce, to be best man at his friend’s wedding. 

Tazewell Hall had a narrow escape from being torn down. It 
was wished to extend England Street through the grounds of the old 
house, and the house itself was in the way. But moved aside, and 



72 


Historic Houses of Early America 


turned half around, it is now firmly fixed on new foundations, occupied, 
and doubtless will have many more years of existence. 

Although another house is now known as that of the Randolphs, 
this was the home of Sir John, Royal Commonwealth Attorney, and 
first of the name to come to this country. Here Peyton and Edmund 
Randolph were born, and Sir John’s son and namesake also lived in 
it. This John Randolph must not be confounded with the other John 
of Roanoke, grandson in the sixth generation of John Rolfe and 
Pocahontas. The Williamsburg John was brother of Peyton, and father 
of Edmund. Peyton “gave early signs of a too independent spirit to 
be very acceptable to the English Government.” Sent to England “ on 
account of some of our complaints, and speaking his mind too freely 
for the Court and Cabinet, he was displaced from his office, and his 
brother John, who had acted during his absence, took his place. At the 
outbreak of the Revolution, John went to England, but bitterly re¬ 
pented this, and directed that his body should be taken back to Vir¬ 
ginia for burial.” (Bishop Meade.) John’s son remained with his uncle. 

What is always known as the Randolph house was probably built 
about 1750, the exact date uncertain, for all the records were burnt. 
Of massive, hand hewn timbers, the entrance hall runs across the 
front of the house, instead of through it. Behind the hall is a big old 
drawing room, with large fireplace, and hand carved mantel, and at 
either end of the hall, doors open into wings. From the drawing 
room one descends steps into a kind of central hall, from which 
stairs lead to the second floor, and further in the rear is a modern 
addition. The house has all the signs of having been built at several 
periods, and is in excellent condition. It is occupied by a family 
whose members, although from quite a different section of the country, 
are deeply attached to the old house, and delight in its age and history. 

Edmund Randolph studied at William and Mary College, and 
became a lawyer. He helped frame the Constitution of Virginia, was 
the first Governor of the state, a member of the convention which 
framed the Constitution of the United States, and while at work on 
this, was appointed by Washington Attorney General. Five years 



6 % The First English Settlement ^5 


73 


later, he was Secretary of State, which office he resigned after the 
signing of the Jay treaty with England, and found himself practically 
ruined, because, while holding that office he had incurred responsi¬ 
bility for funds provided for foreign service. He resumed his law 
practice, but was compelled to assign his land and slaves. 

Peyton Randolph also occupied this house. He was Attorney 
General of Viriginia, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and first 
President of the Continental Congress. 

The Governor’s Palace stood at the far end of what is still 
called Palace Green. In front of the site is now a modern school- 
house, deplored because of its modernity by some old residents. In¬ 
deed, as a rule, Williamsburg has preserved much of the old time 
atmosphere, many of the modern buildings being of the same light 
colored brick, and along the general lines of the old survivors. 

On the actual foundations of this palace, from which Lord Dun- 
more was driven, now stands a one-story building, used in connection 
with the school, and some of the old bricks were used in its construction. 
The monument erected to commemorate the old building is quite 
screened by the schoolhouse, and one must go around to the side to 
find it. Then one may learn that the Palace, which originally con¬ 
sisted of a house probably two stories in height, with a smaller build¬ 
ing at each side, one an office, the other the guardhouse, was de¬ 
stroyed by Federal troops during the War between the States, at the 
time that the property was owned by Letitia Tyler Semple, daughter 
of the President. 

In 1706, Williamsburg already had a free school, Mattey’s, and 
in 1716 the first theatre in the United States was built here by William 
Levingston, but all traces of the theatre have disappeared, save that 
its stone steps, imported from England, serve now for the Blair 
house. 

Williamsburg may not boast the oldest college in the United 
States, for that honor is justly claimed by Harvard, since the earlier 
Virginia one at Henrycropolis was entirely wiped out. But William 
and Mary was, with one exception, the first American college to have 



74 


Historic Houses of Early America 


chairs of Law, Political Economy, Modern Languages and History, 
and in 1693, at the time when Harvard had a President and two pro¬ 
fessors only, the Virginia college had a President, six professors, 
and a master. The architect of the early buildings is said to have been 
Sir Christopher Wren. The Indian building on the campus was built 
in 1723, and Mr. Ratcliffe, an Englishman, gave £45 a year for its 
support as a school for the Indians. It is now Brafferton Hall, and used 
by the college. 

The main building of the college is the fourth to stand on this 
site, three previous ones having been burned to the ground. The Presi¬ 
dent’s house, built in 1732, was occupied by Cornwallis about the time 
of the siege of Yorktown, and later was burned by the French dur¬ 
ing the struggle. It was then re-built by Louis XVI of France, at 
his own expense, so that the present house, still occupied by the college 
President, is more than a century old. 

The Galt house on East Francis Street is said to be the oldest 
in town, for it was spoken of as “ more than a hundred years old at 
the time of the Revolution,” but its age is its chief claim to mention, 
nor is that definitely established. 

Near the college, on the grounds of the Hospital for the Insane, 
stands a small building of one room, the kitchen, all that is left of 
the large dwelling on the “ Six Chimney Lot ” plantation of Martha 
Washington when she was Mrs. Custis, and close by is a tree which 
she is said to have planted. 

The kitchen is the usual one of southern plantations, with a huge 
fireplace, but some interest attaches to the hospital itself, in that it 
was the second in the world—the first was in France—to be built 
with the plan of curing if possible, rather than merely imprisoning 
the unfortunate insane. 

The Blair house on Duke of Gloucester Street still stands, and 
on the same street is the Paradise house, an old stone building, un¬ 
occupied in the autumn of 1926, and apparently doomed to remain so 
unless much repairing is done. Some of the once fine old woodwork 
remains, but has been painted an ugly brown. 

The Blair house was the residence of John, President of the 



The First English Settlement 


75 


Council of State, Acting Governor of Virginia. After his death in 
1771, his son John lived here until his death in 1800. He was Justice 
of the United States Supreme Court. It was also occupied by John 
Blair’s son-in-law, Professor Andrews, and by John Marshall when 
a student here. 

Of the Paradise house, the following is told. The mistress of the 
house was always called Lady Paradise, as she insisted, although 
she had no claim to such a title. She dressed her hair so elaborately 
that she could not or would not put bonnet or other head covering 
upon the structure, but whenever she walked abroad in Williamsburg, 
behind her always followed a small page, carrying a suitable head 
covering displayed upon a pillow. 

Most striking of the houses on the old Palace Green is that of 
George Wythe. Fairly well preserved before, it is now insured a 
long lease of life, for through the untiring efforts of Dr. Good¬ 
win, rector of Bruton Church, it has been purchased for a parish 
house, and save for an addition in the rear for parish purposes, has 
been carefully restored to its original state. 

This was the home of a famous man, one of the Signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, the first law professor in America, who 
had for students such men as Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, 
Chief Justice Marshall, Henry Clay, Edmund Randolph, and many 
other later distinguished men. Wythe designed the seal of the United 
States, and lived in this handsome house for many years. During 
the Yorktown campaign it was for a time Washington’s headquarters, 
and in it Lafayette was entertained on his last visit to America. 
Ellen Glasgow described this house as the residence of Judge Bas¬ 
sett, in her novel: The Voice of the People. 

The old house has the unusual distinction of three ghosts. 

In Judge Wythe’s room, any occupant is liable to be awakened 
by the touch of a cold hand on his forehead; George Washington 
may be seen walking in the hall on moonlight nights, but on these 
alone, while Mrs. Skipworth, who was Elizabeth Byrd, often de¬ 
scends the old staircase. 

A fine brass knocker hangs on the front door, the broad hall 



76 Historic Houses of Early America ^§9 


runs through the square house, and a flight of low, broad stairs, with 
hand carved bannisters, mounts to the second floor, while another 
almost as fine descends beneath to the cellar. There are many HL 
hinges here on doors and window shutters, but some of these, though 
old, may have been placed here recently. One front room on the 
first floor has broad window seats, and there are peephole shutters, 
and rimlocks with the seal of England cut in them all over the 
house. An upper room in the rear was a billiard room, and here Wash¬ 
ington is said to have played many a game. 

On the other side of the Green is a low white cottage with dormer 
windows, the early home of Governor Page. It has a paneled hall 
and parlor, with small window panes, on one of which may be read, 
scratched with a diamond: “ T.B. 1790, Nov. 23. O fatal day.” No 
one knows who scratched the words or why, so anyone may invent 
a romance to fit them. 

This house is now, rather to the annoyance of its owners, quite 
generally known as the Audrey house, because Mary Johnson chose 
to make it the setting for her novel of that name. The rooms have 
the great old fireplaces of the time when it was built, and a fine old 
hedge of box in the garden behind the house is another survivor of 
days long past. 

The great front door, its solid outer boards lined with another 
thickness of diagonals, to defend its inmates from Indians, is another 
relic of the past, and old H hinges abound. A number of interesting 
relics are also cherished here by the devoted owners, and include 
Powhatan’s stone axe. 

At one time Page cottage was the home of Rebecca Byrd, whose 
fiance, as their wedding day drew near, had himself sent to prison on 
some trumped up charge to get out of the marriage. Despite this 
mortification, the lady eventually married another. 

The home of Governor Dinwiddie, square, with broad portico 
supported by white pillars, faces on Palace Green, opposite the Page 
house. The St. George Tucker house, very long, low and rambling, 
which stands on the street leading from Palace Green to the Court 




Beautiful “ Carter's Grove,” built for another of “ king ” Carter's sons. Three pirates 
are buried in its cellar, and their ghosts are said to haunt it. 











f ; {Kill 

IPHl 




Garden of the Old Stone House, Richmond, Virginia. This is said to have been laid out 
exactly as the garden in which, also in this city, Poe courted his wife. 



. 


111 A 


S/ \ 

IQP^r-rf >«» k. - * 

JaaiiUlB 

fflii 

• Jjjj iiiii Kn , 


gfllf 1 


'dm ' 



^ w 

bg»»i j 


Old Stone House, Richmond, the oldest in the city, now a memorial to Edgar Allen Poe. 


(MU 






















6?^ The First English Settlement 


77 


House Square, but not facing the latter, is said to have been Lafayette’s 
headquarters. Here in Williamsburg is also the Cary house, home 
of two sisters, one of whom Washington vainly wooed for she mar¬ 
ried George Fairfax instead. This by no means exhausts the list of 
old houses, but merely the most important, or those with most inter¬ 
esting associations have been mentioned. 

The substantial build of the earliest of them, the beauty and 
charm often found, need surprise no one. Virginians lived well from 
the early days of the settlement. They very soon possessed stores of 
pewter, plates, dishes and platters, which were gradually followed 
by those of silver. China and glass were imported at an early date 
from the mother country, and they brought with them or imported 
silver chafing dishes, sack cups, porringers, etc. Their family por¬ 
traits brought with them were often the work of artists of European 
renown. Turkish rugs covered their floors at an early period. 

In early colonial days there is mention of such furniture as “ par¬ 
lour beds, trundle beds, dressers and chests of drawers j” of looking 
glasses, later pier glasses, and finally of chimney mirrors. They had 
Holland blankets, dimity coverlets, crickets, stools, chairs, harpsi¬ 
chords, spinets, and “joined dining tables.” 

John Davis, a Welshman who visited Virginia at an early date, 
wrote: 

“ The higher Virginians seem to venerate themselves. I am per¬ 
suaded that not one of that company would have been embarrassed at 
being admitted to the presence and conversation of the greatest mon¬ 
arch on earth.” 

On the excellent road from old Williamsburg to almost equally 
old Yorktown, is a beautiful old place, one of many belonging to 
the family of Carter, which name will be frequently encountered 
in any chronicle of old Virginia. 

Of this old mansion it is impossible to speak without superlatives. 
Built in 1722, by “ King” Carter, as a wedding present for his daughter 
Elizabeth, who married Nathaniel Burwell, the house itself is in 
a perfect state of preservation, and cries aloud for some wealthy 



78 


( Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


buyer who will fill it with guests, and once more revive its past 
splendors. 

About five miles from Williamsburg, one turns from the high¬ 
road, and for perhaps half a mile, traverses a neglected but not im¬ 
passable road between fields. If ever it was an avenue no trace now 
remains. But after half a mile, comes a double row of splendid old 
cedars, set well back from the road, and after these, always proceed¬ 
ing in a straight line, one enters an avenue bordered with a double, 
in some parts triple row of locusts, magnificent old trees, fortunately 
untouched by axe. The red brick house is at the end of this avenue, with 
what was once a lawn in front, while behind, terraces once descended 
to the James River, half a mile away, and there are traces of a sunken 
garden. 

Mounting a short flight of semi-circular stone steps, each massive 
as millstones, one is confronted by a heavy door with great lock. 
This is really the rear entrance, for steps descend to the cellar just 
within a very broad hall, running through the house to another 
great door, and portico without. The entire hall from floor to ceiling 
is paneled, the floors are of dark wood, partly black walnut, partly 
hearts of pine, while the beautiful carving of cornice, door and win¬ 
dow frames is of mahogany. A recent owner painted this exquisite 
hall in red, white and blue, but a later owner removed this dis¬ 
figurement, and restored it to its original beauty. The ceilings through¬ 
out are very high. 

From the hall an unusually broad staircase, with low treads, rises, 
turning with a landing on the rear wall, and lighted by an enormous 
window. The great square hall is separated upstairs by an enormous 
archway from what was once a library, with windows overlooking 
the river. Paneled from floor to ceiling, bookcases line every inch of the 
lower part of the walls not occupied by doors or windows. The frame 
of this arch, the cornices, the exquisite delicately carved bannisters 
of the staircase, are all of mahogany. There are four large rooms on 
each floor, and the last owner to occupy the house connected the din¬ 
ing room with the old kitchen, formerly a detached building. On 



The First English Settlement ^5 


79 


the other side of the house a brick building similar to the kitchen was 
the bachelor quarters. 

After members of the Carter family no longer owned it, it was 
falling out of repair when an elderly gentleman bought the place, 
put it in perfect order, installed a heating plant, and settled down to 
enjoy his beautiful home. He lived only two years, and his widow 
sold it. It was then bought by several men together, who farm the 
rich lands, but the house is occupied only by a caretaker and her 
family. Visitors are admitted upon payment of a fee, and the house is 
kept in good order, but one would gladly see it fully occupied, re¬ 
furnished with the old portraits and furniture long since scattered, or 
if not these, at least with substitutes. 

Down in the cellar, so the story goes, three pirates were buried 
many years ago, but their restless spirits do not trouble the present 
occupants. 

On the mahogany stair rail are many scars made during the Revolu¬ 
tion by the savage General Tarleton. One story says that while occu¬ 
pying the house as his headquarters, he ordered some of his men who 
were upstairs to come down, and when they did not obey promptly 
enough to suit him, he rode up the broad, low stairs on his horse, 
hacking at the bannister rail with his sword as he rode. He and his 
men of course plundered the place before leaving. 

The house is put together with wooden pegs, many of which may 
still be seen, and it has strong inside shutters which could be closed 
to give protection from Indians. When these shutters are closed, the 
old brick walls are exposed to view in the recess. Brass locks and hinges, 
silver plated, are throughout the house. The walls are at least two feet 
thick. 

The paneling and woodwork of the first floor rooms are painted 
white, as so often in old houses, except in the dining room and hall, 
where all is in the natural finish. In the drawing room overlooking the 
river is a marble mantle, said to be the first ever brought to the United 
States. This is one of the Virginia drawing rooms claiming to be the 
scene of Washington’s proposal to the Widow Custis. 



8 o 


Historic Houses of Early America 


In 1751, this house was the home of Rebecca Burwell, the “ Dying 
Belinda ” who refused Thomas JefFerson and married Jaquelin 
Ambler. 

Of old Yorktown but little remains. The hotel, more than a 
century old, the church nearby re-built on a much older foundation, 
and the office of the county clerk are set among modern houses and 
buildings, but on the way to the monument commemorating the 
surrender of Cornwallis, close to the road, are the historic Nelson 
house and a still older one next door, both with gardens in the 
rear. 

The first house of wood which “ Scotch Tom ” Nelson, first of 
his family to come to America from Penriff, Scotland, built for 
himself here in 1715 is gone, as is a third one, built ten years later 
for his son. The present, built in 1740 for William Nelson’s eldest 
son, Thomas, the Revolutionary general and grandson of “ Scotch 
Tom,” was occupied by the owner at the time of the British bom¬ 
bardment. A butler while serving dinner was struck by a shot and 
killed, his silver tray in his hand. Nelson left the house under a 
flag of truce. 

This Thomas, the grandson, was one of the Signers, a Governor 
of Virginia, a Major General in the American army, but died a poor 
man, having given almost everything that he possessed to the Ameri¬ 
can cause. He was educated in England, and there took up smoking 
“ filthy tobacco, also eating and drinking, though not to inebriety, or 
more than was conducive to health and long life,” as Bishop Meade 
quaintly and rather obscurely comments. 

The Nelson house, a private residence, is no longer owned in the 
Nelson family. It has a hall paneled with very wide planks, and painted 
white. The dining room is also paneled, with capitals carved in a 
pattern of roses and acanthus leaves surmounting fluted columns in 
half relief. Each of the two stories has four large rooms, and there 
is a high attic. On the first floor, the original rooms were the draw¬ 
ing room, with General Nelson’s office behind it, a library and a 
dining room, all except the dining room paneled to the ceiling. The 





Courtesy of the Society for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities 

Dining room in the home of Chief Justice Marshall. The house was built by him in 
1789, and is now the property of the Society for the Preservation of Virginia Antiqui¬ 
ties, who opened it as a museum on March 27, 1913. 


Courtesy of the Society for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities 

Parlor in the home of Chief Justice Marshall, Richmond, Virginia. 














I 



View of the James River from Westover. The 
boulder marks the exit of a tunnel leading 
from an outhouse near the mansion, and built 
for escape when Indians threatened. 




..■» i l 2 

ECTK' ; . »v | 



WKggjmm 


The fine iron gates of Westover, ordered by its 
builder, Colonel Byrd. 



Dementi Studio 


The “White House of the Confederacy,” Richmond, this is now the Confederate 
Museum, filled with many interesting relics of that period. Jefferson Davis’ only son 
died by falling from an upper balcony now removed. 

















6^ The First English Settlement 


81 


old fireplaces have been left, but otherwise the interior has been 
much re-modeled, and the house is never shown to strangers. In the 
outer wall may be seen one of the cannon balls embedded there dur¬ 
ing the seige of Yorktown. A large garden and grounds are on three 
sides of the house, and the brick wall surrounding the whole has been 
carefully repaired where needed, and is draped with festoons of 
clinging old ivy. 

The place was considerably damaged during the siege, the one 
cannon ball still remaining by no means representing the extent of 
such damage. Nelson is said to have told Lafayette: “Spare no par¬ 
ticle of my property so long as it affords comfort or shelter to the 
enemies of my country.” 

The house of the General’s uncle, who was known as the Secretary, 
was destroyed during this bombardment, and when he was brought to 
town under a flag of truce, and saw this, he, equally patriotic, is said 
to have congratulated the American officers on the destruction that 
their bombardment was effecting. 

The oldest house in town is probably the Shields, formerly the 
Sessions house, designated as one of the twelve surviving very old 
houses west of Chesapeake Bay. It has been but little modernized. 

One story and a half high, with the quaint dormer windows on 
the upper story found in the old Virginia houses of this type, it has 
great chimneys, and many HL hinges, chiefly found in New England. 
Whether southerners were not, like the northern settlers, afraid of 
witches is a moot question, but while H or L hinges are plentiful, the 
combination is quite rare in the south. 

This house was built between 1691 and 1699 for Thomas, son of 
“ Scotch Tom.” He married Mary Read. Bishop Meade in his History 
of Early Virginia Churches and Families , the greater part of which 
deals with the early part of his ministry, or soon after 1838, men¬ 
tions Miss Tomasia Nelson as living here at that time. 

It has a charming, box-bordered, ivy grown old garden, and the 
front door is a so-called Christian door, although not of the same 
type found in the Old North Church, Boston, and the Webb house 



82 


Historic Houses of Early America 


in Wethersfield, Connecticut. This one has two upright crosses, but 
the same tradition clings to it, namely, that it was good for driving 
away witches from the house. 

The death of General Nelson left his widow in the big house 
next door almost penniless, the house and a tiny income being hers 
only through the kindness of her husband’s creditors, who allowed 
her the use of both until her death. 

Three quarters of a mile from Yorktown, on Temple Farm, is 
the old Moore house where the papers for the surrender of Corn¬ 
wallis were drawn up and signed. Part of this house is very old in¬ 
deed, and was the residence of Colonel George Ludlow, a member of 
the Colonial Council, and a relative of Edmund Ludlow, one of the 
regicide judges. Furthermore, the house stands on the site of one 
built more than a century before the Revolution, the home of Captain 
Nicholas Martain, ancestor of Washington and Nelson, prominent 
in the first “rebellion against tyranny,” in Virginia, when, in 1634, 
the colonists deposed from office the unpopular governor, Sir John 
Harvey, and shipped him out of the country. Captain Martain died 
in 1657. 

Here lived Lucy Smith, granddaughter of Major Lawrence 
Smith, who surveyed York and Gloucester Counties, and laid out York¬ 
town. Lucy married Augustine Moore, said to have been a grandson 
of Governor Spottswood. Temple Farm was chosen by the Royal 
Governor of Virginia as his residence, probably on account of the 
beauty of its situation. 

Motoring from Williamsburg to Richmond, one passes over what 
is practically the old colonial road. At Bottom’s Bridge, Cornwallis 
is said to have stationed troops when he raided Richmond, and it 
was also the site of a camp during the war of 1812. 

The name, Providence Forge, commemorates the site of an early 
iron foundry, owned and worked by Colonel William Byrd, whose 
name figures so prominently in Virginia history. 

The site of Richmond was explored in 1607 by Captain John 
Smith, but not until 1742 was a town incorporated here, built, like 



The First English Settlement 


83 


ancient Rome, as the inhabitants are fond of telling, on seven hills, 
although later another was included within the city limits. 

Richmond suffered too much destruction during the War between 
the States for one to find many very old buildings, but a few remain in 
what is practically a modern city. 

The oldest house in town, on Main Street, now called the Poe 
Memorial, and a shrine to that poet, was built in 1737, by Jacob 
Ege. Of stone, with very thick walls, a story and a half high, it contains 
but four small rooms, two on each floor, with a tiny passage between; 
from the lower one steep narrow stairs mount to the upper. Sometimes 
called Washington’s headquarters, there is no authority for believing 
that Washington ever occupied it. 

A charming garden behind the house, with a summer house and 
fountain, is said to have been laid out in facsimile of the garden 
belonging to the Allen house on Second and Franklin Streets, Rich¬ 
mond, in which Poe courted his wife. 

The old house contains many interesting relics of the gifted and 
unfortunate poet. Here, too, is preserved one of the first British red 
coats made in this country, its colors almost as bright as though 
but recently dyed. 

Richmond became the capital of Virginia in 1799, and the Gover¬ 
nor’s mansion on Capitol Square was built that year for Thomas 
Jefferson, the Governor. The present house standing on the original 
site, dates from 1811, save for a recent addition in the rear which 
contains the present dining room. The broad hall and large rooms on 
the ground floor open with broad archways into each other, suggestive 
of Monticello, and admirably fitted for state and entertaining purposes. 
Unfortunately a fire caused by a Christmas tree a couple of years ago 
damaged some of the valuable old furniture and portraits, although 
these have been as far as possible restored. The fire did not injure the 
walls of the house. 

In 1818 was built what is now known as the White House of the 
Confederacy, a three-story brick building covered with grey stucco. 
For many years, it has been a Confederate museum, and is filled with 



84 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


most valuable and interesting relics of that period. Here are, to 
mention but a few, the seal of the Confederacy, the original provisional 
constitution of the Confederate States, many portraits, battle flags, 
uniforms worn by prominent generals including that of the beloved 
commander, Robert E. Lee, and many of his little personal belong¬ 
ings. Among these is the beautiful sword presented to him no one now 
knows by whom, for all efforts to learn the donor’s name have thus 
far failed. Here, too, is the uniform in which Jefferson Davis was cap¬ 
tured, not as some old northern schoolbooks used libelously to de¬ 
clare, a woman’s dress and hoopskirt. 

The balcony from which the little Davis son fell and broke his 
neck has been removed from the house. 

The different rooms are named after the Confederate States, and 
the societies of each state collect relics, etc., under the direction of 
a state regent. 

After the surrender of General Lee, the Federal troops occupied the 
city, and their commanding officer made this house his headquarters. 
In what is now the Georgia room, President Lincoln was received, but 
remained in Richmond only a few hours. After the troops left, it 
was used as a school, until finally the Confederate Memorial Lit¬ 
erary Society obtained possession, and devoted it to its present use. 

Most interesting is the Chief Justice Marshall house on the cor¬ 
ner of Ninth and Marshall Streets, now preserved as a memorial by 
the Association for the Preservation of Viriginia Antiquities. To this 
society are due the preservation and maintenance of many interesting 
and historic houses and buildings, but unfortunately there are not 
nearly sufficient funds as yet to carry out all that they hope to do, for 
buildings in Virginia which ought to be preserved are very numerous. 

Marshall’s fine house, built in 1795, is entered by so small a door, 
opening into so narrow an entry that visitors are not surprised to learn 
that the real main entrance is at the side. It seems that Marshall 
accepted the architect’s plans for the house, and then went to Europe. 
On his return, he found that through some odd mistake, the house 
had been set at right angles to the original plan, so the small side 



6?^ The First English Settlement ^5 


35 


door became the entrance from the street, the drawing room, which 
should have overlooked the extensive grounds which then lay be¬ 
hind the house, had instead its windows overlooking the two streets. 
The old detached kitchen which stood behind the house has now 
been removed, the fireplace in a rear room filled in, and covered with 
a paneled wall, otherwise few changes have been made. 

The small entry opens into a large hall running across the house, 
divided in the middle by an archway, with a fanlight above. The 
dining room, largest of the three on the first floor, has a beautiful 
old mantel, and shutters made of one length of board, with butterfly 
hinges. A portrait of Washington painted from Peale’s miniature, and 
not much resembling those with which we are most familiar, hangs 
here. Another interesting portrait is that of Fielding Lewis, who 
married Betty Washington. Their third daughter, Margaret, married 
Thomas Marshall in 1809. She was a great invalid for most of her 
married life, but Marshall was devoted to her always, and after her 
death, would never again occupy their bedroom above the drawing 
room. 

Marshall was a law student, as mentioned, at William and Mary, 
but there are those in Richmond who will tell that he never attended 
but four law lectures there. One can but marvel, if this be true, at the 
remarkable lectures which those four must have been, to say nothing 
of the mental equipment of the student who listened to them. 

Richmond is an excellent centre from which to visit various inter¬ 
esting places. A pleasant drive southward brings one to Petersburg, 
where there are a number of interesting old houses. The town itself 
is historic. 

Captain John Smith explored this territory, which the Indians 
called Appomatuck, and here it is claimed lived King Powhatan, father 
of Pocahontas, so Petersburg likes to believe that on its site the Indian 
princess saved the white explorer’s life. The maiden’s real name was 
either Matoax or Matoaca, the name Pocahontas being given her by 
her fellow Indians, it is said, when naming her to the white men, be¬ 
cause of a belief that no one whose true name was unknown could be 



86 


(*?$!( Historic Houses of Early America 


killed. Powhatan’s true name was Wahunusukak, which surely offers 
difficulties of pronunciation. 

In Petersburg’s Central Park is preserved Pocahontas’ stone wash 
basin. Confronted with this, who would deny that she lived here? 

Major Peter Jones, a comrade of Colonel William Byrd, founder 
of Richmond, established a trading post here in Petersburg, on the 
river, as early as 1675, when it was called Peter’s Point, but long be¬ 
fore that it had been a camping ground for both Indians and white 
men. The actual town was not founded until more than fifty years 
later, but a two-story stone structure on the river, now used as a seed 
storage warehouse, is pointed out as the original Peter Jones trading 
station. 

Folly Castle, built in 1763 by Peter Jones, great-grandson of the 
major, still stands. It received this name because it was thought most 
foolish for a childless man to build so large a house. 

The old colonial home of Colonel John Bannister still stands on 
High Street. He was prominent in the days immediately preceding 
the Revolution, was a colonel in its army, and also took active part in 
the second war with Great Britain. He was the first mayor of Peters¬ 
burg. 

Marks on the floors of rooms in this house are said to have been 
caused by Revolutionary soldiers as they grounded their arms, but this 
tale is doubtful. In 1781, the great French traveler of those days, the 
Marquis de Chastellux, was a guest here. 

In the heart of the city are three hills, Bollingbroke, Center and 
West by name. A small frame house, all that remains of the former 
Bolling mansion on the first hill, was occupied by the British General 
Phillips as headquarters, and here Benedict Arnold, the traitor, Tarle- 
ton and Cornwallis also stayed. General Phillips fell ill shortly before 
Lafayette arrived to check Lord Cornwallis’ advance, and was brought 
to Bollingbroke a sick man. He is said to have cried out: “ Can they 
not let me die in peace? ” during the bombardment. He died in the 
house, and was buried in Blandford cemetery, now within Petersburg 
limits. A week later Cornwallis, whom Jefferson described as “ the 



The First English Settlement ^5 


87 


proudest man of the proudest nation on earth,” arrived and made his 
headquarters in the Bolling house. 

During Lafayette’s cannonading from Archer’s Hill, shots were 
aimed at Bollingbroke. It is told that Arnold was crossing the yard 
outside when a ball passed close to him, so he ordered the occupants 
of the house to take to the cellar for safety. Two balls struck, one of 
which killed Molly, the cook, as she stood in the kitchen doorway. 

General O’Hara, who after he came to America in 1780 was in 
command of the British forces, is said to have made his headquarters 
at this time in Long Ornery tavern, one mile west of Petersburg. There 
he was visited by Mrs. Bolling, who requested the return of negroes 
and horses which had been taken from her, and were then in the tav¬ 
ern. O’Hara refused to return them. It was he who surrendered Corn¬ 
wallis’ sword at Yorktown. 

On Center Hill is a house just over a century old, which was used 
in 1865 as headquarters by General Hartsuff, of the Federal forces. 
In it, too, was held the reception given President Taft, when the mon¬ 
ument to the Pennsylvania soldiers of the War between the States was 
dedicated. 

An underground passage led from house to river, and more than 
fifty feet of it are still open. A cannon ball remains embedded in a 
wall, and many bullet holes mark attic doors, testimony to the fierce 
fighting that went on around Petersburg during the Civil War. 

The third of the three hills was the site of a house now gone, said 
to have been built for stewards of the Bolling estate. 

Across the river stands a fine old house on Dunn’s Hill, which was 
occupied by Lafayette while he directed the shelling of Bollingbroke. 
A wonderful old box hedge still survives. 

Nearby is Violet Bank, a pre-Revolutionary house which originally 
contained twenty rooms, many of which have been removed, until now 
there are few, but these make up for lack of numbers by size. Entering 
the wide hall, on the left is an enormous room, square, high-ceiled, 
which once served as General Robert E. Lee’s office. On the lawn near 
the house is a huge umbrella tree, which is said to have sheltered the 



88 


Historic Houses of Early America 


General’s tent. Another story goes that the tree itself sprang from a 
riding switch carried by Peter Francisco, and carelessly tossed aside, 
with no thought that it might take root. 

This same Peter Francisco, while sitting in one of these rooms un¬ 
armed, saw a British soldier enter, who demanded “those massy 
buckles which you wear on your shoes.” 

Francisco replied that they were the gift of a dear friend, and he 
would not give them up. “ Take them if you can,” he added. 

The dragoon placed his sabre under his arm, and advanced to take 
them, whereupon Francisco seized the sabre, and literally cut the man’s 
head in two. There are many tales of this Francisco’s great strength. 

The house is solidly built, its heavy doors of mahogany, the floors 
wonderfully well laid, joining tightly even to-day. 

This by no means exhausts the interesting old houses around 
Petersburg, all of them private residences. To name a few, here is 
Appomattox, home of the Eppes family, the estate on which it stands 
having been granted by the British Crown to Colonel Francis Eppes in 
1635. The house which still stands, built in 1715, was set on fire by 
Arnold’s men, was twice fired on by northern gunboats. 

Cobbs, home of the Bollings, stands on the left bank of the Appo¬ 
mattox River. Kippax was the first home here of this family, which, 
like one branch of the Randolphs, claims descent from Pocahontas. 

At Cawson’s, was born John Randolph, whom Bishop Meade de¬ 
scribes as “ a most talented, eccentric and unhappy man,” and refers 
to his “ peculiar and unhappy temperament, his most diseased body 
and the trying circumstances of his life and death.” 

Randolph had the courage, at a time when duels were all too fre¬ 
quent, to decline General Wilkinson’s challenge, declaring that he 
would not stoop to Wilkinson’s level. He endured the abuse and vil¬ 
ification which Wilkinson heaped upon him without changing his 
stand. 

In 1799, he was elected Member of Congress, and distinguished 
himself by his wit and eloquence. He opposed the War of 1812, and 
thus lost his seat, but two years later returned to Congress, and in 1825 



6 ^ The First English Settlement 


89 


was elected Senator. In 1822 and 1824 he visited England, and at¬ 
tracted much attention because of his eccentricities of dress and manner. 
He was a member in 1829 of the convention for revising the Consti¬ 
tution of Virginia, was Minister to Russia, and died in Philadelphia. 

All along the James River on both sides, lie these historic homes, 
some of them still occupied by members of the original family to own 
them, others purchased by the wealthy from distant states, still others, 
saddest of fates, now rapidly falling to ruin. Yet so staunchly were 
they built that it is hard to destroy them, and the visitor can but hope 
that some- one may yet come to restore their vanishing loveliness. 

With one of the most noted, this very thing is in process. 

Brandon, the historic estate of the Harrison family for more than 
two hundred years, seemed doomed. The house was almost in ruins, 
the road to it practically impassable for automobiles. Then quite re¬ 
cently it was purchased from the heirs by Robert Daniel, now of New 
York City, but originally of Richmond. He is a great-great-grandson 
of Edmund Randolph, so that the place passes into the possession of a 
descendant of one of Virginia’s oldest families. 

The new owner is having it restored as nearly as possible to the 
old state, and it will soon be what it once was, a show place on the 
James River. 

The land here was first granted to John Martin, who came to 
America with Captain John Smith. Martin was a member of His 
Majesty’s first council in Virginia, and his place was then known as 
Martin’s Brandon. He either sold or gave up the grant, for in 1635 it 
was conveyed to John Sadler and Richard Quiney, merchants, and 
William Barber, mariner. Quiney’s brother, Thomas, married Wil¬ 
liam Shakespeare’s daughter Judith. Ridhard left his share of the land 
to his son, and from the latter it passed to his great-nephew, Robert 
Richardson. In the year 1720, according to one account, Richardson 
sold it to Nathaniel Harrison, a Burgess, councillor, naval officer, 
County lieutenant of Surry and Prince George Counties, and audi¬ 
tor general of the county, an important person, as this list of offices 
shows. 



90 


6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Other authors state that the place passed to Lady Frances Ingleby, 
and that she sold it to Harrison. The first Nathaniel had a son of the 
same name, who was a member of the Council of State, and this Har¬ 
rison’s son Benjamin married Evelyn Byrd} not the beauty of West- 
over, but her aunt. The eldest of their sons, George Evelyn, a 
member of the House of Burgesses, inherited Brandon. 

Upper Brandon, not far away, was built in the 19th century by Wil¬ 
liam Byrd Harrison, younger son of the first Benjamin. 

The oldest part of Brandon, the southeast wing of the present house, 
was built by Nathaniel Harrison about 1712, and a few years later he 
added the other wing, both built of red bricks brought from England. 
When the first Benjamin married Evelyn Byrd, she brought with her 
family portraits painted by Godfrey Kneller, Sir Peter Lely, and one 
said to be by Van Dyck. The house was paneled and wainscoted with rare 
woods, and is a beautiful specimen of the elegant Virginia mansion of 
the period. On its window panes many distinguished visitors had 
scratched with a diamond their names. The hall has triple arches sup¬ 
ported by Ionic columns. 

Brandon was saved during the Civil War by a happy chance. 

In 1863, the occupant, Mrs. Isabella Harrison, was advised to leave 
the place, as it was considered too dangerous with the approach of the 
Federal troops for longer occupancy. She went to Richmond, her 
brother, Dr. Thomas Ritchie remaining. The troops soon drew near, 
and Dr. Ritchie was carried off to one of the Federal gunboats in the 
river. The soldiers then proceeded to plunder the place. 

They tore out the beautiful wainscoting, probably looking for 
hidden treasures; broke the windows, with their valuable autographs, 
destroyed all of the outbuildings, but fortunately did not burn the 
house; being called off for other duties, they announced their intention 
of returning shortly and finishing it. 

It happened that President Lincoln’s physician and close friend 
was the husband of Mrs. Harrison’s sister, and he interceded with the 
President for Brandon. Lincoln knew Dr. Ritchie by name and reputa¬ 
tion, and dispatched telegraphic orders to Fortress Monroe that Bran- 



The First English Settlement 


9i 


don be spared. 1 But the portraits and old furniture, with everything 
else portable of value had been carried off j the old window shutters, 
built to resist attacks of Indians, had been hacked by bayonets, and 
riddled with bullets, and many bullets were embedded in the front 
door, where it is to be hoped they will be allowed to remain. 

Flower de Hundred is another old place on the river, and no one 
seems able satisfactorily to explain the name. 

The first owner, Sir George Yeardley, was that Governor of Vir¬ 
ginia who called and presided over the first free legislature that ever 
met in the American colonies, the Assembly of 1619, held in the old 
church in Jamestown. His nephew, Edmund Rossingham, and John 
Jefferson, ancestor of the President, represented Flower de Hundred 
in this Assembly. The Governor lived in Jamestown, but in 1621 he 
built on this plantation the first windmill in America. Here in 1622 
six people were murdered by the Indians, the property was sold, and 
then changed hands several times until in 1725 it was purchased by 
Joseph Poythress, and has remained in the family ever since. 

The oldest part of the present house was built more than a hun¬ 
dred years ago by John Vaughn Wilcox, who married the widow, 
Susan Peachy Poythress. This was a small building of but three rooms, 
and was used by Wilcox when he came to superintend the planting of 
the land. His son finished the present building. In June, 1864, Gen¬ 
eral Grant, on his march to Petersburg crossed the river here. His men 
did much damage to the old house, hacking magnificent mahogany 
woodwork and furniture, tearing up floors and smashing marble. 

On the opposite side of the James River, about eight miles from 
Richmond, on the road to Curie’s Neck, one may turn from the high¬ 
way, and by a practicable road approach a house that fairly pleads for 
a wealthy owner, anxious to restore it to its former beauty and occupy 
it, which the present owner does not care to do, preferring the city. 

Like almost all of the homes along the river, Wilton faces on the 
James, and one approaches the rear from the road. Here one sees a 
square brick house, two stories high, disfigured by a modern porch, 
1 Article in The Homemaker Magazine, by Marion Harland. 



92 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


already crumbling to decay, and at one side an equally disfiguring two- 
storied wooden addition. Passing around to the river side, where once 
the grounds sloped in terraces and gardens to the water’s edge, not 
more than an eighth of a mile away, another less conspicuous disfigure¬ 
ment, a square, brick railed porch has been added, which like the rear 
one, though better, is wholly out of keeping with the beautiful Geor¬ 
gian entrance, the white pediments and pillars, and the hand carved 
white cornice below the eaves. 

But worse awaits one inside. 

A very broad hall runs through the house, with two rooms on each 
side, and the same plan is followed on the second floor. From floor to 
ceiling, halls and all of the eight rooms are paneled in what seems to 
be black walnut, and the broad staircase with its low treads, its finely 
carved bannisters, and unusual hipped railing, are all of the same 
wood. The last owner before the present gentleman bought it so cov¬ 
ered the paneling with paint, while although he did not paint the 
staircase, except the stair treads, which are green, he so coated every¬ 
thing with varnish, that it is difficult to determine just what the wood 
is. The floor boards are as close, the heavy doors swing as easily and 
close as tightly as ever, and a few of the massive brass rimlockers 
remain. 

It is bad enough downstairs, where the paneling is touched off 
with red and green and yellow, but what can one say of the beautiful 
rooms upstairs, the walls entirely painted over in ugly greens and 
yellows? 

Another owner tore out the secret staircase which led from one of 
the lower rooms facing the river to the bedroom above, making closets 
of the space, while upstairs a hall was made of part, to connect the ad¬ 
dition. 

A secret passage led from somewhere in the cellar down to the 
river, for use in case of Indian or negro uprisings. A depression on the 
lawn quite plainly indicates part of its position, and the farmer living 
on the estate is so interested that he intends to open it again, being quite 
sure that he has located the river end, beneath a great boulder. In the 



The First English Settlement 


93 


cellar floor, now covered with concrete, but probably once flagged, two 
brass spikes project several inches, and he thinks that possibly some 
kind of a wrench once fitted over these, and turning, raised the flag¬ 
stones over the entrance to the passage. 

There is also a story that a button in one of the hall panels when 
touched pressed a secret spring, which opened a passage, but there 
seems now no trace of such a button. 

The drawing room and dining room have white marble mantel¬ 
pieces such as one finds in many old Virginia mansions, and probably 
imported from England. Old shutters with H hinges, very thick, still 
remain on the lower floor windows. 

The exact age of this beautiful house is not known. It was built 
for William Randolph, a son of Colonel William, the first of the 
family, who came to Virginia in 1744, married Mary Isham, and 
settled on Turkey Island. The house there has long since disappeared. 
The owner of Wilton died in 1761, so it is reasonable to suppose that 
it dates from the I750 , s. 

Unfortunately more damage than disfiguring paint, removing a 
romantic staircase and blocking a secret passage has been done. Fine 
trees have been cut down and others left to die for want of care, but 
some still survive. 

At Ampthill, opposite Wilton, the first iron works in America were 
established in 1619, under Governor John Berkeley, but after the 
Indian massacre three years later, they were abandoned and finally 
destroyed by Tarleton’s men, during the Revolution. 

The house at Ampthill was built in 1722, by Henry Cary, who 
superintended the building of the Governor’s Palace and the State 
House of Williamsburg. Ampthill passed to his son, Archibald, a 
patriot, who introduced in the Virginia convention the resolution mov¬ 
ing for entire independence of Great Britain. 

Beyond Wilton lies Curie’s Neck, a very old estate owned at an 
early date by Richard Randolph, who married the only child of Po¬ 
cahontas and John Rolfe. Richard was another of Colonel William’s 
numerous family. 



94 


Historic Houses of Early America 


The old house here has long been gone, and there now stands a 
beautiful brick residence, built quite in the old style, although thor¬ 
oughly modern within. According to the best authorities, this house 
is between thirty and forty years old. It is owned by a northern gentle¬ 
man who occupies it for but a short period of the year. 

Continuing in the same direction, fine old Shirley is reached. This, 
like the majority of the river places, is a private residence. 

Three stories high, of red brick, and set on a slight elevation, the 
grounds sloping down to the river, the plantation was at an early date 
the property of Colonel Edward Hill, a member of the House of Bur¬ 
gesses. He died childless, and his sister, Elizabeth, succeeded to the 
property. She married John Carter, and a descendant of theirs, Anne, 
married Light Horse Harry Lee, of Revolutionary fame, and was 
the mother of Robert E. Lee, beloved Commander-in-chief of the 
Confederate Armies. 

The first of the Carter family in America, John, was the father 
of the famous “ King ” Carter, the title having been given him because 
of his wealth, and magnificent mode of life. When John Carter died, 
he left what was an immense fortune for those daysj 300,000 acres of 
land, 1,000 slaves, and 10,000 pounds sterling in cash. Shirley was 
the home of one of the “ King’s ” numerous sons, Charles, who had 
twenty-three children, one of whom, Dr. Robert, married Mary, the 
daughter of General Thomas Nelson. 

Shirley is still occupied by the descendants of the original owners. 

The large house has but three great rooms on the lower floor, and 
a hall running across the house. In this hall, a staircase runs around 
a great square opening to the roof, and some recent owner installed a 
curious elevator, hung on chains. 

The entire lower floor is paneled from floor to ceiling in great wide 
boards which have been painted many times. The walls are literally 
covered with old family portraits, including a large one of “ King ” 
Carter in his gold-laced red coat, doubtless his uniform in the royal 
militia, and the portrait of one of his three wives. The King looks as 
though he thoroughly enjoyed good living. 



6?^ The First English Settlement 


95 


The first house at Shirley was built in 1650, and altered in 1770, 
when the present porticoes at front and rear were added, and the hipped 
roof changed to the present mansard. 

The doorways are lovely, topped by hand carved pediments, and 
over the hand carved mantels are immensely broad panels. Peale’s full 
length portrait of Washington is one of the art treasures on these 
walls. 

The estate of Berkeley adjoins Westover, but in the autumn of 
1926 it seemed deserted, nor was it possible for an automobile to ap¬ 
proach it by the drive turning off the highroad, so reluctantly a visit 
was abandoned. 

The land here was granted in 1618 to Sir William Throckmorton, 
Sir George Yeardley, Richard Berkeley, and John Smith. In 1622, 
George Thorpe, head of the Virginia Committee for the proposed 
college at Henrycropolis, was murdered here with eight other white 
men by the Indians. 

Later, the land where the present house stands came into the pos¬ 
session of John Bland, a London merchant. His son, Giles, lived here 
until he was hanged in 1676 by Sir William Berkeley, for taking part 
in Bacon’s Rebellion. The property then passed to the Harrison family. 
A governor of Virginia, one of the Signers, a general in the Revolu¬ 
tionary army and a president of the United States were all born here. 
The first Benjamin Harrison to live here was Attorney General, 
Speaker of the House of Burgesses and Treasurer of the colony. His 
sons were Benjamin and Nathaniel, the latter the founder of the Bran¬ 
don family. Berkeley descended to a Benjamin Harrison for several 
generations. 

The fourth of the name was for many years a member of the 
House of Burgesses, and he built the present house at Berkeley. His 
son Benjamin was also a member of the House of Burgesses, and of 
the committee that ratified the Declaration of Independence, of which 
he was a Signer. His son William Henry born in Berkeley, was our 
ninth President, but the place passed to his elder brother, another 
Benjamin. Before the Civil War it was sold. 



96 


6?^ Historic Houses of Early America ^9 


It is said that every president from Washington to Buchanan has 
stayed here, and here came General William Henry Harrison, “ Tippe¬ 
canoe,” to write his inaugural address as President in his mother’s 
room. The house was used as headquarters by McClellan, and the cellar 
served as a prison for Confederates. 

Beautiful Westover, most carefully cared for of all the estates 
along the James, restored and loved by its present northern owners, 
is not open to strangers, save that they are allowed to see the gardens, 
now being restored as nearly as possible to their original condition, 
when lovely Evelyn Byrd used to wander in them. 

This place was twice ravaged by Benedict Arnold and once by Corn¬ 
wallis during the Revolution, while during the War between the States, 
General McClellan and his soldiers camped near the house. 

On the river side, the real front, are a number of beautiful old 
tulip trees, survivors of a long row, and one of these has been kept 
alive by most extensive and skilled tree surgery. Until far above 
the ground, a great cavity in the trunk has been filled in with cork and 
cement, such a cavity that one would think a tree could not survive. 
Yet not only does it leaf out each spring, but marvelous Nature is 
gradually growing new bark, so that the edges are slowly closing over 
the cement framework. 

William Byrd and his wife came to Virginia in 1674, first making 
their home at Belvidere, then coming here to Westover. Byrd held 
many important offices in his adopted country. He was High Sheriff 
of Henrico, a member of the House of Burgesses, and in 1687 the 
King appointed him Receiver General of His Majesty’s revenues for 
the Colonies, in which office at his death he was succeeded by his son. 
The first William began collecting the fine library to which his son 
added. In 1688, he bought land and began building Westover. 

The first house was destroyed by fire through the carelessness of 
a housekeeper in 1749, but William’s grandson, another William, re¬ 
built it. 

The son of the first William, Colonel Byrd, nicknamed the Black 
Swan, married Lucy Park, daughter of one of Marlborough’s aides. 



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6?^ The First English Settlement ^§5 


97 


Byrd was educated in England. Their daughter, the beautiful Evelyn, 
was taken to England and presented at court when but sixteen. The 
Earl of Peterborough fell in love with her, and asked her hand in 
marriage, and she seems to have returned his love, although the Earl 
was over sixty, and a roue. The father would not hear of the marriage 
for his beloved daughter, and brought her back to Virginia, where 
she pined and finally died of a broken heart. When the Colonel was 
left a widower, he married twenty-eight year old and widowed Maria, 
born a Taylor. 

The grandson who re-built Westover, with Peter Randolph was 
appointed by the Governor to visit the Indian tribes of southern Vir¬ 
ginia, including the Cherokees, and try to arrange a treaty with them. 
The two men accomplished this successfully. Later, Byrd was a member 
of the House of Burgesses. He married Elizabeth Carter of Shirley, 
and when she died, Mary Willing of Philadelphia. She was related 
to Benedict Arnold’s wife, which proved unfortunate for her, for Ar¬ 
nold, after going over to the British, landed at Westover with nine 
hundred men, on his way to attack the patriot forces, and Mrs. Byrd 
was held responsible. However, she succeeded in convincing her ac¬ 
cusers that she was in no way false to the American cause. 

In 1782, the Marquis de Chastellux was a guest at Westover, and 
thus wrote of it in his Travels: 

“ There are magnificent houses at every view, for the banks of 
the James River form the garden of Virginia. That of Mrs. Byrd sur¬ 
passes them all in the magnificence of the buildings, the beauty of its 
situation, and the pleasures of society. . . . She takes great care of 
her negroes, makes them as happy as their situation will admit, and 
serves them herself as a doctor in time of sickness. She has even made 
some interesting discoveries on the disorders incident to them, and 
discovered a very salutary method of treating a sort of putrid fever, 
against which the physicians of the country have exerted themselves 
without success.” 

The third William, a very popular man like his father, was un¬ 
fortunately an inveterate gambler, and the estate passed out of the 



98 


Historic Houses of Early America 


family. Arnold stayed here in 1781, and Cornwallis during the same 
year, while at a time when the French officers were guests in the house, 
they expressed the greatest admiration for the lovely daughters of 
their host. 

Evelyn’s room is still pointed out to visitors, and here she is said 
to walk, while the tap of her high-heeled slippers, the rustle of her 
silken gown may sometimes be heard on the stairs. She is buried not 
far away. 

There are four rooms on each of Westover’s three floors, the main 
building is paneled from floor to ceiling, the panels painted cream color 
now, and who can say how many times they have been painted? The 
front left hand room as one looks over the river, and the adjoining 
wing which contains a ballroom, were badly damaged by fire some 
years ago, before the present owners bought the place, and this neces¬ 
sitated some new woodwork, but the old has been carefully matched. 
The wing on the other side of the house connected by pantries, etc., 
contains the kitchen, laundry and servants’ quarters. In the smaller 
drawing room on the left in the rear hangs the three-quarter length 
portrait of the beautiful Evelyn Byrd. 

The first Colonel Byrd was educated at Oxford, a great friend of 
the Duke of Orrery, as is duly set forth on his monument in the old 
garden, where he is buried at the intersection of two walks. Here in 
the garden some of the old box borders still survive, supplemented 
where needed by new plants, for everything is done to restore but not 
change the place. Here, too, is a rare Judas tree, with lovely pink 
blossoms in season. 

Westover has its passage to the river, and a curious one. Although 
the entrance close to the water’s edge may be plainly seen, it would be 
difficult now for a grown person to enter, as much earth has choked it j 
but a police dog belonging to the family often goes in apparently for 
a considerable distance, when taking refuge from guests whom he 
does not like. The other end of the passage is at the bottom of a dry 
well in an outhouse, some rods from the house, and by lighting a torch 
and staring down, or climbing down the ladder which reaches within 



The First English Settlement 


99 


a couple of feet of the top, the two brick arches through which one 
entered the passage to the river, and another to the cellar of the house, 
may be seen. A former owner had the latter passage bricked up, for 
she was afraid that snakes came through it. Originally one could accord¬ 
ingly go from the house to the river, or end the trip at this out¬ 
house, as he chose. 

Tuckahoe, no longer belonging to descendants of the original 
owners — indeed it has changed hands repeatedly — has decided in¬ 
terest, even although one may find it difficult to obtain permission to 
visit it. 

The odd name is said to be derived from the Indian word for an 
edible root which grew in abundance here. 

Thomas, one of the many sons of the Randolph of Turkey Island, 
came into this property, and his father built a house here for him. 
Every room was paneled in either black walnut or hearts of pine. On 
the estate a small building is said to have served as a schoolhouse, and 
here Thomas Jefferson studied with his cousins, the little Randolphs. 

After the death of their father, Jefferson’s father was their guard¬ 
ian, and took his duties so seriously that he removed to Tuckahoe 
with his own family. 

Two ghosts haunt the place, or so it is said} one that of a murdered 
peddler, appears in the southeast chamber} the other, a bride, wanders 
with floating hair, wringing her hands, along the eastern side of the 
garden, near the wall. 



«W 

Chapter V 

Pioneer Homes in Virginia, and Their Ghosts 


A good motor road runs northwest from Richmond to an interest¬ 
ing section of Virginia, the neighborhood of Charlottesville. As one 
travels along this highroad, before leaving Louisa County, one may 
see at the right a square, red brick house, quite modern in appearance 
and well kept. None the less, although now a private residence, this 
was the Cuckoo Tavern, from which, on learning of the approach of 
the British General Tarleton and his men, Jack Jowett, or Jouette — 
the name is variously spelled — began his long ride to Monticello, to 
warn Jefferson and the members of the Virginia Assembly, recently 
removed from Richmond, of the advancing troops. 

At the Jowett Tavern, kept by Jack’s father, and now the Red 
Lands Club, Charlottesville, within a stone’s throw of the Monticello 
Hotel, he ended his journey of forty miles. In order to outdistance 
Tarleton, he took unfrequented lanes and side paths, through thorns 
and brambles, and it is said that, to the day of his death, Jack Jowett’s 
face was scarred from cuts and scratches received on his ride. 

Thomas Jefferson afterwards introduced in Congress a resolution 
that a pair of pistols and a sword be given the heroic rider. Only the 
sword was given, and not until eight years later. It is treasured by 
Jowett’s descendants to this day. 

After warning Jefferson and his guests at Monticello, Jowett rode 
to Castle Hill, or perhaps stopped there on the way. Some believe 
that Tarleton was delayed at the latter estate not merely because his 
soldiers ate up two breakfasts intended for the General, but that Mrs. 


IOO 



6^ Pioneer Homes in Virginia 


IOI 


Walker, mistress of Castle Hill, had given orders that everything 
possible be done to delay him, like Mrs. Murray of New York, when 
by detaining the British at her home, she gave the Americans time to 
escape from Manhattan Island. 

The elder Jowett came to what is now Charlottesville in 1773, 
bought one hundred acres of land, and built his tavern, The Swan, 
in which the legislators several times met. Jowett laid out High 
Street, and kept tavern until his death in 1802. Another of his sons, 
Matthew, a captain in the Continental Army, was killed at the Battle 
of Brandywine. 

The present Albemarle County, much smaller than the original, 
was set off in 1744. Before that year it had been explored by Robert 
Walker, William Randolph, Nicholas Meriwether, Robert Lewis, 
and Peter Jefferson, father of the President. All of these names recur 
in any chronicle of old estates in this section. The river now known 
as Rivanna was named River Anna, after Queen Anne, and the entire 
range of the Southwest Mountains was explored by Jefferson and 
Walker. When Goochland County was separated from Albemarle, it 
was Peter Jefferson who made the survey. 

The first homes here were but one or two-roomed log cabins, with 
stone chimneys. These cabins were in most cases replaced by houses of 
rough boards, hand hewn, with hand wrought nails, and having high 
peaked roofs. Early settlers molded their pewter spoons for daily use. 

After Peter Jefferson married Jane Rogers, he built, about 1737, 
the first house at Shadwell, named for the English birthplace of his 
wife’s mother. This house was burned in 1770. Shadwell was part of 
the “ Punch Bowl Tract,” which Jefferson bought from Randolph of 
Tuckahoe for “ Henry Weatherbourne’s biggest bowl of Arrach 
punch.” The Randolphs had already acquired lands in what was then 
almost a wilderness, the mountainous Albemarle County. 

Colonel Thomas Mann Randolph, son of the master of Tuckahoe, 
owned the plantation called Varina, as well as Edgehill in this section. 
The latter place he left to his son, Thomas Mann Randolph, Junior, 
and probably built the first Edgehill house, about 1790. This, a story 



102 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


and a half structure, with wings, contained nine small rooms, the upper 
ones lighted by dormer windows. The younger Randolph married 
Thomas Jefferson’s daughter, Martha, and in 1828 built on the site 
of the first Edgehill house another which now forms part of the present 
one. Here eight years later, his daughter opened a school for girls. 
Descendants of Colonel Thomas Jefferson Randolph introduced a 
bill in the Virginia Assembly, providing for the gradual emancipation 
of slaves. 

Dr. Charles Everett, one of Jefferson’s physicians, later bought 
Edgehill, and dying, willed it to his nephew and namesake, directing 
that his slaves be freed, and transported back to Liberia. Fortunately 
for them, by a codicil the nephew was permitted to use his discretion 
as to the destination of the freed slaves, and decided to send them 
instead of to Liberia, to Mercer County, Pennsylvania. In 1852, Ever¬ 
ett built a new house on the Edgehill plantation, and moved the old 
one back, dividing it into two outhouses. The new one burned down 
in 1883, and the two parts of the old house were once more united 
on the original site. 

Castle Hill is one of the many estates near Charlottesville which 
once formed part of the huge grants given early settlers. For more 
than a hundred years it has been the property of the Rives family, and 
is now the home of the author, Amelie Rives, Princess Troubetzkoy. 

Nicholas Meriwether, one of the earliest explorers of what is now 
Albemarle County, received a grant of more than 30,000 acres here. 
His widow, Mildred, married Dr. Thomas Walker, a well-known 
local character, and thus the Castle Hill property came into Walker’s 
possession. He is said to have been the first white man to enter Ken¬ 
tucky, in 1750, and his hatchet with the initials: T. W., was found 
not long ago in that state. He won the friendship of the Indians there 
and in Virginia, and was one of those who drew up a treaty with them 
in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744, which treaty gave to the colonists 
all the territory in Virginia claimed by the Indians. He was also one 
of a group of men who purchased 6,000,000 acres of land from George 
Croghan, who had bought them from the Indians. Walker had charge 




6?^ Pioneer Homes in Virginia 


103 


of the commissary department under Braddock, and when he returned 
from that ill-fated expedition, brought back with him a stallion which, 
according to local chroniclers, lived to be forty-eight years old. 

Walker was a student at William and Mary College. 

One of his agricultural experiments was the grafting of a Newton 
pippin from New York on the wild Virginia crabapple, thus producing 
the Albemarle pippin, a delicious variety of apple. 

The Castle Hill estate originally included Cismont, Castalia, 
Music Hall and Belvoir. The houses on the first two are less than a 
century oldj at Music Hall, oddly named, the first house, built about 
1783, has practically been torn down and re-built, while at Belvoir, 
the old house burned down, and a later owner of the place cut down 
so many of the fine old trees that the Hon. William C. Rives, com¬ 
menting upon the destruction, is said to have remarked: 

“ The man should have left one upon which to hang himself.” 

The first house on the Castle Hill property is believed to have 
been built about 1764 by Thomas Walker, into whose possession the 
estate had then come by his marriage to Mildred Meriwether. 'This 
house forms the rear of the present one, built in 1824 by the Hon. 
William C. Rives, United States Senator from Virginia, and Minister 
to France. He, too, owned the estate through his wife, Judith Page 
Walker, a descendant of Thomas Walker. This Mrs. Rives, like her 
descendant, was an author, two of her books being “ Home and the 
World ” and an “ Epitome of the Bible for Children.” 

A long drive of nearly a mile from the highroad brings one to 
what is the most remarkable feature of this fine old estate, something 
absolutely unique, as those learned in trees and shrubs have many 
times declared. From the road, one turns into a driveway which, in 
the shape of a long oval, takes cars or carriages to the house on one 
side, and away on the other. All of the lower end of this oval is en¬ 
closed between walls of box trees — walls nine or ten feet thick, and 
almost impenetrable, towering to the height of at least thirty-five or 
forty feet. It is difficult for one who has not seen this marvel to credit 
it. Box hedges nine Or ten feet high, though rare, do exist, but any- 



104 6 % Historic Houses of Early America 


thing like this wall would be, according to all accounts, impossible to 
duplicate. Visitors from foreign countries are amazed. There are no 
records of the planter of this wonderful box wall, but undoubtedly it is 
very old. The upper portion of the drive is without such wall, but 
here and there, at the sides, are isolated trees rising to almost if not 
quite the same height. From the front portico, one gets a beautiful 
view of mountains in the distance, through a cleverly cut opening in 
the box, leaving beneath a hedge of goodly height, and allowing the 
towering walls on either side to frame the panorama effectively. Those 
interested in psychic phenomena declare that an atmosphere favorable 
to these is also conducive to the growth of box. 

The old portion of the house consists of a broad hall with a large 
room on either side, and an upper half story, lighted by quaint dormer 
windows. Mr. Rives built on the larger front part in such a way that 
through the front entrance one passes into a hall which joins the old 
one almost imperceptibly. The rear door is directly opposite the front 
one, and through both may be had a beautiful view of the mountains 
in the distance. A more modern staircase in the newer portion supple¬ 
ments the old one still remaining in the old building. 

At right and left of the front door, large rooms open from the 
hall. The one on the left has the green Empire furniture bought for 
it by Mr. Rives, and the Erard piano, still of good tone. The walls 
of both rooms are covered with old family portraits, while in the hall 
hangs a charming portrait of the present owner, painted by her hus¬ 
band. 

From the green drawing room opens another room which, when 
there are several guests staying in the house, is used as a bedroom. 

One night a guest was to occupy it, and the family retired to the 
second story. Prince Troubetzkoy told the writer that he was awakened 
from sleep by his friend’s voice, calling him frantically from the 
lower hall. He hurried down to find that gentleman in a state of ex¬ 
citement. 

“ What is the matter? What has been going on here? ” the friend 
demanded. 



6?^ Pioneer Homes in Virginia ^5 


105 


The host, who had heard nothing, asked what he meant. 

“Why, for a half hour or more, there has been the greatest 
commotion down here, people coming and going, doors opening and 
shutting, chairs pushed back in the drawing room.” 

There was no trace to be found of any nocturnal visitors, and one 
is free to explain it as he chooses, although many in the neighborhood 
will smile, and murmur: “ The family ghost! ” 

This is not the only ghost story connected with the place. Not far 
from the entrance drive, on the other side of the road by which it is 
approached, is a hollow. No horse can be induced to pass through this 
hollow after dusk. At all events, the mistress of the house admits that 
although an excellent rider, she was thrown when she vainly tried, 
after several previous failures, to force her mount to take this direc¬ 
tion. 

A party of children of another member of the family, picnicking 
in here, lingered until the sun was setting. None of these had ever 
heard any tales of a haunted hollow, but suddenly one of the chil¬ 
dren glanced up, and remarked: “ What a funny looking carriage.” A 
moment later, she added: “ And see how funnily dressed the ladies 
are.” 

The others saw nothing, but later the child described minutely what 
she had seen, and the description was that of an old fashioned coach, 
the costumes those of long ago. 

Ghosts are no novelty in this state. 

Here at Castle Hill, at the time that Tarleton was being delayed 
by the wily mistress of the house, it is told that finally, becoming in¬ 
dignant at the length of time that he was kept waiting for his break¬ 
fast, he went to the kitchen, only to be told by the cook that she could 
do nothing. His soldiers had already eaten up two breakfasts that she 
had prepared for him. Finally she advised him to keep his men out 
of her kitchen if he wanted breakfast. Anyone familiar with colored 
cooks can form a picture of Mammy, and her righteous indignation. 

Tarleton is said to have become so furious that he had the offend¬ 
ing soldiers tied to cherry trees outside the kitchen, and severely 



io6 6 % Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


whipped. Eventually he got the third breakfast, ate it, and started on 
his way, but too late. 

Breakfasting at Castle Hill that morning, and surprised by the 
arrival of Tarleton are said to have been William and Robert Nelson, 
and Francis Kinlock. They started to make their escape, and the first 
two succeeded, but one British soldier recognized Kinlock, and called 
out: 

“ Stop, Cousin Francis. You know I could always beat you run¬ 
ning.” 

The two had been at school together, and Kinlock, knowing this 
to be the truth, allowed himself quietly to be taken prisoner. 

Nearer Charlottesville is the estate known as Clover Fields, the 
property for many years of a branch of the Randolph family, de¬ 
scendants of the original owner. Although the present house is not 
more than eighty years old, it stands on the site of a much older one, 
built in 1760, and on land which was granted to Nicholas Meriwether 
in 1730. The original grant hangs in the hallway of the house. This 
curious document sets forth that “ for divers good causes and consid¬ 
erations, but more and especially for and in consideration of the sum 
of 21 pounds of good and lawful money for our use paid to our Re¬ 
ceiver General of our Records in this our Colony and Dominion of 
Virginia . . . unto Nicholas Meriwether of Hanover County, Gentle¬ 
man, one certain tract or parcel of land containing 17,952 acres be¬ 
ginning with the white Oak, marked with several letters, 13,762 acres 
of this tract being granted to the said Nicholas Meriwether, and to 
Christopher Clark by patent . . . witness our trusty and well beloved 
William Good, Esq., our Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in- 
Chief of our said Colony and Dominion at Williamsburg.” 

The name was originally written Merry Weather, and the family 
were Quakers, personal friends of King George II, who gave Nicholas 
more than 11,000 acres of land in addition to those mentioned in the 
deed. 

The first house, long, low, with dormer windows in an upper story, 
and tall chimneys, was replaced by the present two-story, square house 





Pioneer Homes in Virginia 


107 


of bricks, covered on the outside with weatherboarding. It has massive 
old doors, one of which when closed gives a prolonged musical note. 
A small story and a half cottage near the house is at least a century and 
a quarter old. 

Clover Fields eventually was inherited by Captain W. D. Meri¬ 
wether whose daughter married Thomas Jefferson Randolph of Edge- 
hill. The house passed to the Randolphs when two Miss Meriwethers 
in turn married a Randolph. 

The first Nicholas Meriwether helped build what was known as 
Walker’s Church, on the site where now stands Grace Episcopal church, 
about two miles from Clover Fields. Colonel Nicholas had a brother 
Charles. One of the latter’s grandsons, during the War between the 
States, saw a party of horsemen approaching, and thinking them Con¬ 
federate soldiers, greeted them cordially. He found out his mistake 
when one of the riders relieved him of his watch. 

One of the Meriwethers lived at Cismont, but only the old kitchen 
of the original house survives. 

Cobham Park, close to the railroad station of that name, is another 
estate which formed part of the original grant to Nicholas Meriwether. 
A beautiful square Georgian brick house stands on the summit of a hill, 
reached by a winding drive from the highway. The house is not very 
old, but most attractive, with a box enclosed flower garden. 

The Creek, in this same section, now known as Maxfield, is a really 
old house, outwardly not much modernized. It is one of those story and 
a half clapboarded cottages, with dormer windows, and big rooms, but 
was moved here from its old site to make room for the canal, now no 
longer in use. 

In 1764, Colonel Thomas Walker built this house on Belvoir 
estate. Another replaced it in 1790, the old one being moved to the 
estate now known as Maxfield, while the second Belvoir was replaced 
on the same site by a third, as late as 1836. 

To the first house Tarleton sent half his men, looking for Colonel 
Thomas Walker, but he was not there. 

Colonel Walker’s granddaughter, Eliza Kinlock, inherited Belvoir 



io8 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


in 1809. She married Judge Hugh Nelson, and their son Thomas be¬ 
came Governor of Virginia. In 1836, when the second Belvoir burned 
down, the old English organ which it contained was saved by being 
taken apart and carried out. Afterwards it was given to Grace Church, 
and used for many years. 

Only the site remains in present day Charlottesville of The Farm, 
the house where Captain Nicholas Lewis and his wife, Mary Walker, 
known as “ Captain Moll,” lived. Near the town of Ivy is Locust Hill, 
where Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame was born, but the 
present house is not the original. 

During the Revolution, a British officer, one of the prisoners sent 
to Charlottesville, where they were well treated, and hospitably en¬ 
tertained from time to time by various residents, including Jefferson, 
wrote letters home to England. In one of these he speaks of “ an abomi¬ 
nable liquor called peach brandy, which if drunk to excess the fumes 
raise an absolute delirium.” Thomas Ambury, another early English 
visitor to this section, declared: “ There is something peculiar in the 
climate of Virginia that should render all classes of so hospitable a 
disposition.” 

Three miles from Charlottesville, on the top of a mountain which 
had to be leveled to make space for a house, stands Monticello, home 
of Thomas Jefferson, begun by him when but twenty-one years old. 
Shadwell was his birthplace. 

Monticello came into the possession of the Jefferson family by a 
grant in 1735, and was owned by them until the death of the ex- 
President in 1826. Young Jefferson had no architect, and made his 
own plans, slaves doing the work of building. He laid out bridle paths, 
planted gardens, etc., but the house was not finished for thirty years, 
partly because the builder often changed his plans. Although Jefferson 
had begun building in 1770, when he fell in love with a young widow, 
Martha Skelton, daughter of Isham Randolph of Dungeness, another 
of the sons of the Turkey Island settler, and brought his bride home, 
only the so-called Honeymoon Lodge, a one room brick building, was 
finished. 



6 ?^ Pioneer Homes in Virginia 


109 


Most people are familiar with the story of the young couple, set¬ 
ting out after the wedding in a blinding snowstorm for their new home. 
The chaise broke down, they were forced to ride double on a horse, 
and eventually arrived at Monticello at two o’clock in the morning. 
The story that they could not get into the house, so had to spend the 
night in this lodge is false, since there was no house. 

When Jefferson began his home, it is said that there was not an¬ 
other brick building in existence outside of Charlottesville in the 
whole section. The bricks were all made on the place except later, when 
he brought some of the finest for decorative use from Philadelphia. 
He built a saw mill, a grist mill and a nail factory. The house was 
finished in 1802. 

Whatever one may think of the final result — and there are widely 
differing opinions — no one can deny the marvelous beauty of the 
site, with views of the exquisite mountain scenery on all sides; nor 
that the first floor of the house is both impressive and admirably fitted 
for entertaining. 

Monticello is now the property of the Jefferson Memorial Asso¬ 
ciation, and visitors are admitted daily on payment of a small fee. 

From without, the second story, not as yet shown to visitors, almost 
disappears, dwarfed by the height of the lower floor with its twelve 
rooms. The upper story is low ceiled, ill ventilated, cut up into small 
rooms. Servants’ quarters are in a long, low building in the hill, below 
the house level. These, divided into separate lodgings, each with its 
own entrance, are connected by a roofed, flagged porch across the fronts. 
In the end nearest the house, the old kitchen, a gift shop has been in¬ 
stalled. A covered passage, mostly underground, connects the quarters 
and kitchen with the basement of the large house, and a similar pas¬ 
sage extends from the latter in the opposite direction to the ice house. 
A third brick building near this is Jefferson’s old office, and across 
the lawn a similar building is the so-called Honeymoon Cottage. 

Entering the main building by a circular vestibule, one comes into 
a large hall, and from this, through a wide doorway, into the drawing 
room overlooking the lawn. Monticello has entrances on all four sides. 



no 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


The double doors opening from the lower hall are examples of Jef¬ 
ferson’s ingenuity, for by closing one the other moves shut automati¬ 
cally. 

Over the front entrance is a clock with faces within and without 
the house. It has not been going for years, as no one now knows how 
to repair it, but still indicates the weather on its inner face, connected 
with the outer weathervane. Nearby is a ladder which was used for 
winding it, and which folds up into a pole. The woodwork throughout 
is of beech, walnut and wild cherry, some of the flooring eight inches 
thick, and put together with double tongued grooves, not a single nail. 
Nails used in building here were made on the place, in a little building 
passed as one drives up to the house. 

In the dining room, at the side of the fireplace is a small dumb¬ 
waiter, whose door forms part of the woodwork, and would never be 
noticed. This was used to bring bottles of wine up from the cellar for 
guests at table. 

A curious feature is found in the bedrooms. There were no bed¬ 
steads, beds being built into alcoves in the thick walls, and in one room, 
linen closets are built above the bed space. There is a suggestion of the 
Island of Marken here. Still more odd is the opening some five feet 
deep, and more than six feet broad, between Jefferson’s own bedroom 
and private study. In this was fitted a bed which could be drawn up 
to the ceiling, giving free passage back and forth during the day from 
one room to another. From the study, in a closet a staircase mounts to 
an upper room, where at times Jefferson had a guard stationed. Three 
oval openings in the upper wall here are said once to have been filled 
with portraits, removed by a later owner, but they could have served 
for peepholes for the guard. The revolving chair and table invented 
by Jefferson, a model of which was shown at Philadelphia’s Sesquicen- 
tennial, stands in his study. 

There is as yet but little old furniture here, but the Association 
hopes soon to furnish the entire house with that of the period of its 
illustrious owner. 

One exception to the small bedrooms on the second floor is a large 



dty { Pioneer Homes in Virginia ^5 


ill 


room known as the ballroom, although no balls were ever given in it. 
It is said to have been intended for a billiard room, but by the time 
that it was finished Virginia had passed a law forbidding billiard tables 
in private homes, so none was ever brought here. 

Everyone will surely comment: “Where are the stairs? ” expect¬ 
ing to see a broad flight in the front hall. Instead, in each of the nar¬ 
row passages which lead off at right angles from the central hall are 
little narrow winding staircases. Two going down to the basement are 
thirty-one inches broad} two going upstairs, are only two feet in width. 
One cannot picture a lady in hoopskirts using these stairs, and they 
must have been uncomfortably narrow for anyone. The story goes 
that Jefferson intended to build a suitable staircase, but during his 
travels abroad observed that at parties there was a tendency to block 
the stairs with lingering groups, so determined that his should never 
be thus crowded. 

The lower floor has a drawing, dining and breakfast room, two 
studies, two conservatories, very like modern sun parlors, and bed¬ 
rooms enough for the grown members of the family and a couple of 
guests. Jefferson’s daughter, her husband and children almost always 
lived with him, for no sooner did they decide to have a home of their 
own at Edgehill and leave, than he would implore them to return. 

Another myth will be exploded when this house is visited. Jef¬ 
ferson did not, when warned by Jack Jowett of the approach of Tarle- 
ton and his men, escape by an underground passage, as so often told. 
By means of that passage it would indeed have been difficult to escape, 
if not impossible, for it is nothing more than a small tunnel, through 
which buckets of refuse were conveyed on rollers from the house to an 
opening in the side of the hill behind, whence slaves took and emptied 
them. In one of the lower bedrooms may be seen the drop in the floor 
beneath which stood one of these buckets. 

Jefferson lingered after the others had gone, and after making 
his preparations, gathering up his papers, etc., left the house on foot 
but a few minutes before Tarleton’s men entered it. 

Among other guests and members of the Legislature who were at 



112 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Monticello when the warning was given, was General Stevens, who 
had been wounded, and had not fully recovered. He might have been 
captured, but Tarleton’s men saw a scarlet coated individual ahead of 
the plainly clad General, and believing the former to be an officer, 
allowed the General to escape while they pursued the red coat. This 
rider was none other than Jack Jowett, who, after coquetting with his 
pursuers, and allowing them almost to come up with him, suddenly 
spurred his blooded horse, and easily left them behind. 

Jefferson went to the Randolph estate, probably to Edgehill. Two 
faithful slaves, Martin and Caesar, busied themselves in hiding val¬ 
uables beneath the floor boards of the front portico, and were so busy 
that Caesar, who stood below, receiving the articles that Martin handed 
down to him, had no time to escape. Martin replaced the boards over 
his head, and there Caesar remained for eighteen hours, without food 
or drink, and without making a sound that might betray the hiding 
place. Martin received the leader of the soldiers, who locked Jeffer¬ 
son’s study door, and handed the slave the key. Nothing was touched 
except a few things in the cellar. 

One of Tarleton’s men put a pistol at Martin’s breast, and said 
that he would fire it unless Martin told him where the valuables were 
hidden. 

“ Fire away then! ” cried the faithful servant, but his officer called 
off the soldier. 

Crowds flocked to Monticello in 1809, after Jefferson’s retirement 
from public life, and he wrote: “ Political honors are but empty tor¬ 
ments.” Guests were no novelty here. The Duke de Laincourt spent 
seven days with Jefferson in 1796; the Marquis de Chastellux, Lieu¬ 
tenant Hall, of the English Army, and William Wirt, the historian, 
were a few early visitors. 

Jefferson’s daughter Martha, the housekeeper, must have had 
some trying times, for after her father became President, guests were 
even more numerous than ever, and always hospitality was lavish. In 
the latter years, the old steward sometimes complained that he would 
“ cut up a fine beef, and two days later it was all gone,” while once, 




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An interior at Monticello, showing tw.o mirrors which once belonged to 

Thomas Jefferson. 



A cottage 125 years old at Clover Fields, 
near Charlottesville, Virginia. The original 
house here has been replaced by one but 80 
years old, but it and the cottage stand on 
part of the original great tract of land 
granted to Nichilas Meriwether, in 1750. 



The tavern kept by Jack Jowett’s father in 
Charlottesville, Virginia. Now the Red 
Lands Club. It was to this house that Jowett 
rode, after warning the members of the 
Assembly and other patriots at Monticello 
and the neighboring estates, of the ap¬ 
proach of Tarleton and his men. 















6 ?^ Pioneer Homes in Virginia 


ii 3 


when Mrs. Randolph was asked what was the largest number of guests 
for whom she had ever provided beds for the same night, after some 
deliberation, replied: “ Fifty.” 

Since even Monticello with its thirty-five rooms could not accom¬ 
modate such an army, in addition to the large family, beds were found 
for some at the homes of neighbors. Undoubtedly, the enormous de¬ 
mands made on Jefferson’s hospitality, ungrudgingly as he gave it, 
were at least partly responsible for his dying a poor man, his elderly 
daughter being compelled to leave her lifelong home. Before his death, 
Jefferson had become so poor that he was forced to sell many of his 
books, and finally subscriptions were taken up among his friends and 
admirers to pay his expenses until his death. 

At his death, James Barclay bought the entire place for $7,000. 
Much of the furniture, etc., was removed, but the room in which Jef¬ 
ferson died had been left just as it was at the time of his death, even 
to the crumpled bedclothes. 

Finally, hearing that the place was again for sale, some admirers 
in Philadelphia raised $3,000, and dispatched this sum by a young 
Virginian to purchase Monticello, intending to give it to Martha Jef¬ 
ferson Randolph for her lifetime. A fellow traveler in the stage coach 
w r ith the young Virginian, as told in her pamphlet on the place by 
Mrs. Martin W. Littleton, was Uriah P. Levy of New York, who 
had been captain in the United States Navy. 

The young Virginian talked too much, drank, and lost a day thereby. 
When he went to make the purchase, he learned that his fellow trav¬ 
eler had bought Monticello for $2500. At his death, Levy left the 
place to the people of the United States, but his relatives had the will 
set aside. Jefferson M. Levy inherited part under the new legal ruling, 
and purchased the rest. Finally the Association was formed, and suc¬ 
ceeded in buying the property, but money is still needed for endow¬ 
ment purposes, and to furnish the house properly. 

This by no means exhausts the list of old estates in this section, or 
even those with interesting histories. An entire volume might be writ¬ 
ten on them alone. Mention of a few must suffice. 



114 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


To Montpelier, about thirty miles from Shadwell, in Orange 
County, and not far from the famous Virginia Hot Springs, James 
Madison, the future President, was brought by his father when a small 
child. The house here, built in 1756, but re-modeled in 1809, was said 
to have been the first brick house, that is with brick exterior, in the 
neighborhood. James Madison, Junior, the President, enlarged it, and 
a later owner added wings. 

In 1820, Madison wrote that they had “ninety persons to dine 
with us at our table fixed on the lawn, under a large arbor.” Fortu¬ 
nately for host and hostess, only six of the company remained for the 
night. 1 

Scotchtown was bought in 1771 by Patrick Henry for his home, but 
later passed to John Payne. This was the home of Dolly Payne, after¬ 
wards the wife of President Madison, and one of the most famous 
White House ladies. During the Revolution, Tarleton and his raiders 
are said to have ridden on their horses up the broad stone steps, and 
through the wide hall of this house. 

Rosewell, the Page manor house, begun in 1725, and finished five 
years later, is a square brick building, with imported marble casement 
frames. The rooms are exact cubes, the hall wainscoted in mahogany, 
with a fine balustrade carved to represent baskets of fruit. Jefferson 
frequently visited here, and is said to have drafted the Declaration of 
Independence at Rosewell, before going on to Philadelphia and mak¬ 
ing the final version. 

The place was sold to a Mr. Booth for $12,000, and in 1838, he 
changed the flat roof, covering it with galvanized iron, after removing 
and selling the lead. Then Rosewell was sold again. 

A letter from Edmund Randolph still exists, in which he urges 
Governor Page to accept pay from Congress for the lead weights re¬ 
moved from the windows, and used to make American bullets. A later 
owner cut down all the fine old cedar trees near the house, tore out and 
sold the mahogany wainscoting, but spared the staircase, only to paint 
it white. 

1 Historic Shrines of America, John T. Fans. 



Pioneer Homes in Virginia 


1 15 


Bishop Meade remarks on the extravagance shown in building 
Rosewell and other Virginia mansions, where “ richly carved mahog¬ 
any wainscotings and capitals and stairways abound, and every brick is 
English.” He also mentions Rosewell’s shingle roof, covered with 
lead. 

At Salisbury, fourteen miles from Richmond, is the farmhouse 
which Patrick Henry rented for his family in 1784, when he was 
elected Governor of Virginia. His landlord, Thomas Mann Randolph, 
sold the property to Dr. Philip Turpin, a graduate in medicine and sur¬ 
gery of Edinburgh University. During the Revolution, Turpin was 
taken prisoner by the British, and kept as ship surgeon aboard one of 
their war vessels. At first he was believed by his fellow countrymen, 
when this absence continued, to be a Tory but eventually officers on the 
vessel testified that he had been no willing prisoner, while other friends 
in Virginia vouched for his patriotism, so his estate, which had been con¬ 
fiscated, was restored, an unconditional release of his property being 
granted, largely through the influence of Thomas Jefferson. 

Red Hill, Patrick Henry’s last home, in Charlotte County, and 
purchased by him in 1794, was recently destroyed by fire. 

A fine new house long since replaced the two small wooden cot¬ 
tages, the home of John Randolph in Roanoke. 

Up in the peak of Virginia, the northernmost portion, is another of 
the King Carter places. Their number is not so surprising, for the 
“ King ” had a large family, and provided each of his children with 
an estate. 

Lewis Burwell came to Albemarle County in 1640, and settled on 
Carter’s Creek. His son, Nathaniel, married Elizabeth Carter, one of 
the “ King ”’s daughters. Their son lived at beautiful Carter’s Grove, 
and for a time his son, Nathaniel, lived there also, but later moved to 
this Carter Hall, in Clark County. 

He married Susan Grymes, but was left a most disconsolate wid¬ 
ower, and begged his friend, Governor Page, to send for his half sis¬ 
ter, the young and beautiful widow, Mrs. George Baylor, that they 
two might marry. The Governor sent for his half sister, and on her 



n6 ($${ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


arrival, the plan was unfolded. She promptly refused to accept a suitor 
thus provided, whereupon she was informed that the two friends had 
settled the match between them, and in consequence she had nothing 
to say about it. She actually married Burwell, and immediately after 
the ceremony, he remarked: 

“ Now, Lucy, you can weep for your dear George, and I will weep 
for my beloved Sukey.” 

Mt. Airy, in this part of the state, is the home of the Tayloes, and 
has never passed out of the family. 

The first owner was one of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, 
who in 1716 made an expedition from Williamsburg to the summit of 
the Blue Ridge Mountains, a tremendous undertaking then, as it meant 
traversing wild country and thick forests. The expedition was led by 
Governor Spottswood, and the little company crossed and re-crossed 
the Rappahannock River. Afterwards they formed themselves into 
this Society of Knights, and each member received from the Governor 
a golden horseshoe set with jewels, as souvenir. 

The house at Mt. Airy was built in 1747, of brown stone, quarried 
on the place, and with trimmings of sandstone from Aquia Creek. 

During Lafayette’s visit to this country in 1824, Mrs. Tayloe 
used to send him in February fresh raspberries from her greenhouses. 

A few miles from the town of Culpepper stands a house with a 
curious history. 

Built in 1742, it is typical of old houses in this section, square, with 
four rooms on a floor, a wide hall running through the middle and at 
either gable end a big old chimney, in which fireplaces open across cor¬ 
ners of the adjacent rooms. The wife of one of the family now owning 
the place vouches for the following: 

In taking pictures of the old house, no matter from what angle, 
one of the two chimneys cannot be found when the picture is developed. 
At best, it may appear as a nebulous something in the film, but disap¬ 
pears entirely when that is developed and printed. This is not the 
result of a single amateur photographer’s efforts, she declares, but no 
one has ever yet succeeded in getting a picture of this chimney, 



6?^ Pioneer Homes in Virginia ^5 


117 


although there is no difficulty in getting one of the house, and of the 
other similar chimney. She does not attempt to explain this. 

In days long gone, the house was occupied by the Reverend Thomp¬ 
son, rector of St. Mark’s Parish, Culpepper. He called it The Grange. 
Thompson wooed the widow of Governor Spottswood, then living at 
Germanna, not many miles away, but she spurned his suit, declaring 
with some vigor that Lady Spottswood was so superior in rank to a 
mere parson, that it was presumption on his part to ask her hand, and 
that the widow of Governor Spottswood could not demean herself by 
accepting him. The clergyman replied at length, arguing that as a 
clergyman he was above kings, and finally concluded his letter some¬ 
what to the effect that since he had now answered all of her arguments 
satisfactorily, there was no longer any reason why they should not be 
married. 

The lady must have found his reasoning conclusive. At all events, 
she married him, and went to live at The Grange, bringing the clergy¬ 
man quite a fortune. 

Many years ago, when the place came into the ownership of the 
present family, they changed the name to Salubria. 

Salubria somewhat resembles Kenmore in style, but was built be¬ 
fore that house. It has the usual drawing room paneled from floor to 
ceiling, and so enormous a fireplace that chairs may be placed in op¬ 
posite corners at the same time. 

While Thompson rests in the parish graveyard, his grave appro¬ 
priately marked, no record exists — or at all events, none has yet been 
discovered — of either the death or the burial place of the former Lady 
Spottswood, who was a lady of importance. What became of her, and 
what explains the story of the house that follows, may be left for the 
reader to decide to his cwn satisfaction. 

After the clergyman’s death without children, the property passed 
after several generations, about 1830, to three sisters named Hansbor- 
ough. Of these three, one jumped in the well near the house, and 
drowned herself j a second hung herself to a walnut tree in the yard, 
and the third hanged herself by a hank of yarn to one of the rafters in 



118 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


the attic. One of the three is said to have killed a slave, and buried the 
corpse in the cellar. 

In 1840, the grandfather-in-law of the lady responsible for this 
narrative bought the place. His son succeeded to it, and this gentle¬ 
man’s son brought his young bride while on their honeymoon to visit 
his father and stepmother. The bride came from another state, and had 
heard no stories about her husband’s old home. 

On the evening of their arrival, they went to their room upstairs, 
and it being a warm night in June, the young husband took a pitcher, 
and announced his intention of fetching some cold water from the well 
in the garden. 

The bride, seating herself in front of the toilet table, over which 
hung a mirror, began to let down her hair. 

Suddenly she felt that there was someone in the room. 

“ I assured myself that it was nonsense,” she tells, “ and would 
not turn my head, or look behind me, but the feeling persisted. All at 
once the mirror in front of me began to cloud over, and then I could 
stand it no longer, but left my seat. When my husband returned, I was 
sitting on the side of the bed. 

“ 1 What is the matter? ’ he asked . 1 What have you seen? You are 
as white as a sheet.’ 

“ I would not tell him then, for I dreaded being laughed at, but 
merely said: ‘ Don’t you ever leave me in this room alone again.’ 

“ The next day he confessed that he had perhaps been unkind. He 
knew that I had never heard any of the stories current about the house, 
and had wished to find out for himself if I should see or hear anything, 
as so many had insisted that they had done. 

“ My stepmother-in-law has never admitted that she has ever 
seen or heard anything. Probably she never has. But I have had other 
experiences. We were staying there on a visit some years later. Extra 
supplies of sugar were kept in a big green wooden clothespress at the 
top of the stairs, since the lower floor was rather damp. A number of 
guests having arrived unexpectedly for supper, my stepmother-in-law 
wanted more sugar, and gave the bowl to the two little boys of the 



6?^ Pioneer Homes in Virginia 


1 19 


family, bidding them go upstairs and fill it for her. They went will¬ 
ingly, but in a few minutes we heard a great noise, and rushing out into 
the hall, found them and the sugar bowl at the foot of the stairs, down 
which all three had rolled together. Questioned, they declared that 
they had seen ‘ a lady all in white, her hair hanging down her back, 
walking in the upper hall. > ” 

The narrator added that she had often thought of writing some of 
her own experiences in the house, and telling this once to a clergyman, 
that gentleman remarked: 

“ Well, if there are ghosts, that certainly is the house in which to 
find them, and I admit that I myself have passed some very uncomfort¬ 
able nights there.” 

One more story. 

The lady already mentioned left by train from Charlottesville 
with her husband one March day for Salubria. After leaving the train, 
a drive of several miles was necessary. It was evening when they 
reached a hill from which they could plainly see the old house. Every 
window seemed ablaze with light, and knowing that their hostess was 
not in good health, the lady remarked to her husband: 

“ Strange, the house must be full of company.” 

As they approached, however, the lights disappeared, and when 
they mounted the steps all seemed in utter darkness. They knocked 
repeatedly, to no effect, until, just as they were wondering what to do, 
the massive old mahogany door, three inches thick, with great strap 
hinges, swung slowly open. As they stepped into the broad hall, they 
saw a single small lamp burning, so dimly that its light had been in¬ 
visible outside. The door, untouched, closed silently behind them, and 
then, and then only, an inner door opened, and their hostess came out 
to greet them, explaining that she had heard the knocking, but did not 
dare to face the wind, blowing not against the door, however, but in 
another direction, so had waited for them to open it. All the servants 
had gone, for not one will stay in the house after dark, although in the 
daylight they are not afraid. 

In a house in Charlottesville occupied by one of the University 



120 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


professors, a ghost with a peg leg is said often to be heard walking up 
and down, but apparently no one has ever seen this nocturnal prome- 
nader. 

Of still another old house nearby they tell of one room in which 
it was impossible ever to keep a light burning, but this house has burned 
to the ground. 









eWseWs^eWaeiW^e^^ 

Chapter VI 


6 ^ Houses Connected with the Washington 

Family, and Other Virginia Estates ^§5 


O nce more returning to Richmond, the fine highroad connecting 
that city with Washington passes through delightful Fredericksburg. 
Here are a number of old houses with interesting histories, several of 
them directly connected with the Washington family. 

Augustine Washington, father of our First President, settled in 
Stafford County, where his first wife died. He then moved to Wake¬ 
field, and here George Washington was born. This house was burned 
to the ground on Christmas Day, 1780. The Wakefield National Me¬ 
morial Association has been formed, and hopes soon to build a replica 
of the house on the original site, and to restore the old gardens as well. 

After Wakefield, the Washingtons lived for a time at Mt. Vernon, 
where Augustine Washington owned a tract of land, and a house which 
forms part of the present one. Then the head of the family bought 
another place known as Ferry Farm, across the river from Fredericks¬ 
burg, and two miles lower down. Here his four sons and only daugh¬ 
ter, Betty, spent their childhood, and here his second wife, Mary Ball 
Washington, lived for a number of years after her husband’s death, 
and only after much persuasion, yielded to her son’s and her daughter’s 
urging, and removed to the house in Fredericksburg now known by her 
name. 

On the site of Ferry Farm it is said that the Indians smoked a pipe 
of peace with Captain John Smith, but of the original buildings occu¬ 
pied by the Washingtons, only a single outhouse now remains. 


121 



122 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


There seems almost a fatality about early houses connected with 
them, for the home of Mary Ball, at Epping Forest, Lancaster County, 
also burned to the ground. 

Ferry Farm was the scene of the famous cherry tree story. Apropos 
of this story, one lady in Fredericksburg expressed herself to this 
effect: 

“ It is not for me to prove the cherry tree story and similar tales 
true. It is for those who do not believe them true to prove them false. 
This they have not done as yet, and until they do, I, for one, shall con¬ 
tinue to believe them.” 

On the same side of the river as the Ferry Farm, George Washing¬ 
ton went to school at Falmouth, to Master Hobby, next door to the 
church. Both church and schoolhouse have disappeared. Later, when 
fourteen years old, he crossed the ferry, near where the present bridge 
stands, to the home of Parson James Marye, there, together with other 
young Virginians later to become famous, to continue his education at 
the school kept by the clergyman. The present Baptist church stands 
on the site of Parson Marye’s house. 

A bit of Fredericksburg’s early history may be of interest. 

Captain John Smith sailed up the Rappahannock River as far as the 
Falls, in 1608. When he and his companions left their boat at the foot 
of the Falls, landed, and proceeded to look for possible minerals, etc., 
they were attacked by the Indians with a storm of arrows, and in de¬ 
fending themselves, wounded one of the Indians, who was left for 
dead by his comrades. Mosco, Smith’s friendly Indian guide, wished to 
kill the wounded man, but Smith bound up his wounds, and through 
this man negotiations were begun on the following day which ended in 
the pipe of peace, smoked near what was later Falmouth town. 

Tradition says that a settlement was made here as early as 1622. 
In 1635, Major Lawrence Smith took up land, and is believed to have 
built a fort. Smithfield, four miles below Fredericksburg, is supposed to 
have been named for this family. Lawrence Smith’s nephew, Augustine, 
is connected with the neighborhood as early as 1700, but from the time 
when the fort was built, and two hundred soldiers and their families 



Other Virginia Estates 


123 


settled nearby, until the coming of Governor Spottswood, but little is 
known. 

Spottswood had fought with Marlborough in Europe, and coming 
to this country in 1710, brought with him the writ of Habeas Corpus, 
greatly desired by the colonists. He induced a number of Protestant 
Germans, ironworkers, who had come over at the invitation of Baron 
de Graffenreid, to settle in what became the town of Germanna, built 
them a fort, and opened up the iron mines in that section. When he 
left Williamsburg, Spottswood settled in Germanna, built himself a 
castle, and here, in 1732, Colonel William Byrd of Westover visited 
him. 

With the settlement of Germanna, Fredericksburg had become an 
important trading post, named for Crown Prince Frederick, son of 
George II. Byrd speaks of his visit to “ Colonel Henry Willis’ new 
town of Fredericksburg,” and that at the time of his visit, “ besides 
Colonel Willis, who is the top man of the place, there are only one 
merchant, a tailor, a smith, an ordinary keeper, and a lady who acts 
both as doctress and coffee woman.” 

Governor Spottswood was deeply interested in the iron works at 
Germanna, the first in America, and is said to have made as much as 
£5,000 a year from them, which gave him the nickname of a The 
Tubal Cain of America.” 

He was a broad minded man withal, and established a school for 
Christianizing the Indians, giving a thousand pounds towards a college 
for that purpose. 

He was, as mentioned in the preceding chapter, the leader of the 
expedition of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. The knights de¬ 
rived their name from the fact that horseshoes, not needed in the coun¬ 
try around Williamsburg, had to be provided for their horses when 
going into the wilds. The golden horseshoes which Governor Spotts¬ 
wood presented to the knights after their expedition was over, were 
set with jewels, and bore the inscription: Sic Juvat Transcendere 
Montes. Needless to say, these souvenirs were highly prized, and 
handed down in the families of their owners for generations. 



124 


Historic Houses of Early America 


The expedition started from Williamsburg on August 20, 1716, 
stopped at Austin Smith’s in Fredericksburg, and dined on the 24th, 
then left Germanna on the 25th. They drank His Majesty’s health on 
the summit of the Blue Ridge, went on to the Shenandoah, which they 
called the Euphrates, and were back in Germanna on the 15 th of Sep¬ 
tember. 

This settlement did not survive. The Germans moved first to 
Fauquier County, later to Madison, near the railway station of 
that name, and founded what is now Germantown. Nothing now re¬ 
mains of Governor Spottswood’s “ castle.” 

After this digression, returning to Fredericksburg, the very names 
of the streets, Hanover, Princess Anne, Duke of Gloster, Prince Ed¬ 
ward, Charlotte and Sophia testify to the founders’ devotion to their 
sovereigns. Here early customs were long retained. Not until 1742 was 
an ordinance passed that, because of frequent fires, no more wooden 
chimneys might be built, and all those not replaced within three years 
by others of brick or stone should be torn down by the sheriff. An old 
resident told Mrs. Fleming that her grandmother used to tell her that 
“ she saw Peggy, a noted termagant, as tied in a gig that had been 
improvised into a ducking stool, she was pushed along through the 
streets polluting the air with her foul oaths, and surrounded by a clam¬ 
orous crowd of men and boys. . . . She was pushed along to the old 
baptizing place and into the river . . . the water over her head. They 
drew her out, but she was more vituperative than ever. Again they 
pushed her in, and she came out spluttering anathemas, but the third 
submersion silenced her. She returned through the same streets, in the 
same gig, quiet as a lamb.” 1 

Until the early days of the 19th century, a whipping post and a 
ducking stool existed in the town. 

The oldest house now standing in Fredericksburg is on Princess 
Anne Street, between Amelia and Lewis, a story and a half cottage in ex¬ 
cellent condition, built in 1745 by Charles Dick, Commissioner of the 
Gunnery, of which more later. Until a few years ago, down close to 

1 Historic Periods of Fredericksburg, Mrs. Vivien Minor Fleming. 



Other Virginia Estates ^5 


125 


the river stood an old stone building with barred windows, later used 
as a tobacco warehouse, but thought to have originally been a jail. 
Some say that African slaves were taken directly there from the boats 
which brought them up the river. It has been pulled down, and some 
of the window gratings are now used as gates in the yard of the Old 
Quarters Antique Shop. This jail stood on the Leaseland Settlement, 
the oldest part of the town, near the coffee house of Mrs. Sukey Liv¬ 
ingston, “ doctress and coffee woman,” a landowner. 

Augustine Washington became one of Fredericksburg’s trustees in 
1742, and about that time bought lots there, but he died the following 
year, and his widow did not occupy the house now known by her name 
here until 1775. 

Very probably this house was originally intended for an overseer’s 
dwelling, and at the time that Mary Washington occupied it, was a 
small cottage, a story and a half high, with but two rooms on each 
floor, and an outer kitchen, connected by a brick walk. 

The front and largest room was Mrs. Washington’s bedroom, and 
here she died. Behind was a living room, and above two small, low- 
ceiled bedrooms. Some years later, an addition was built on, and this 
is now occupied by the caretaker, installed by the Association for the 
Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, which owns the house. 

Some articles of furniture used by Mary Washington, her work 
table, favorite chair, some of her pictures, are treasured in the house, 
with other pieces of the same period, if not actually used by her. Here 
are the table at which Washington and Lafayette dined, and a piano 
which belonged to the Samuel Washington family. 

In the little garden still grows box that Mary Washington planted. 
The house was to have been torn down, at the time of the Chicago Ex¬ 
position, but an urgent appeal from the women of Fredericksburg for 
its preservation brought instant response, and through the generosity 
of Mrs. Bryan of Richmond, it was purchased for $4,000 and saved. 

The women of Fredericksburg did Mary Washington’s memory 
another service. Tired of the rumors that she could neither read nor 
write, although at the time in which she lived this would not have been 



126 ($${ Historic Houses of Early America 


remarkable, they hunted and inquired until something in her hand¬ 
writing was discoveredj her own will. This they had photographed, 
and one of the photographs is now shown in the Rising Sun tavern as 
proof that such statements were calumnies. 

To the front door of her little house went Mrs. Washington to 
receive the note which her son dispatched by messenger at the time of 
the surrender of Cornwallis. A resident of Fredericksburg, a man 
named Keimer, to the day of his death used to tell how as a small boy, 
voicing the interest of the neighbors, he hovered near her as she opened 
the note with the scissors hanging at her waist, read it, and then glanc¬ 
ing up, spied the boy. 

“ My young man, what is it you want? ” 

He explained. 

M Tell the gossips that George has sent me word that Lord Corn¬ 
wallis has surrendered,” she announced. 

On another occasion, when her son had not visited her for some 
time, too much occupied with public affairs, an orderly appeared sud¬ 
denly, and announced that “ His Excellency ” was on his way to visit 
her. 

Turning calmly to her faithful colored maid, she remarked: 

“ Patsy, George is coming to see me. I shall need a white apron.” 

When Lafayette arrived after the Revolution was over to pay his 
respects to the mother of his beloved commander, she was no less 
unperturbed. Greeting him, she remarked: 

“ Come right in. George has told me all about you,” and proceeded 
to entertain him with her own gingerbread and home-brewed punch, 
or mint juleps, according to two versions. 

The recipe for gingerbread which she used has been preserved, and 
by the sale of gingerbread made according to it, money was earned to 
buy the Mary Washington chair in the D. A. R. Building, in Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. 

When Mary Washington died, she was buried in what was then a 
part of Kenmore, now a public park on Washington Avenue. A mon¬ 
ument to her was begun in 1833, but never finished. Four pillars had 



Other Virginia Estates ) 5$§9 


127 


been erected, and these and their base were a target for both armies in 
the fighting around Fredericksburg in the War between the States. 
Two of the fragments are now preserved in the Mary Washington 
house. 

In 1880, women of the city formed an association, with branches 
all over the country, and by 1894, a beautiful granite shaft was un¬ 
veiled above her grave, the only monument to a woman, erected by 
women. 

At the outbreak of the Revolution, Fredericksburg furnished two 
of the first three Virginia regiments. Half of the generals in that war 
are said to have come from Virginia, and Fredericksburg and the vicin¬ 
ity furnished seven of these, together with the naval hero, John Paul 
Jones. 

On Main Street, near the railway station, stands the frame house in 
which William Paul, his brother, lived and kept a grocery store. Oddly 
enough, there is a grocery store here to-day. A plain, two-story frame 
house, here the future hero lived with his brother, and here he added 
to his name that of Jones, some say in honor of his friend, Wylie Jones 
of North Carolina. Another story tells that John Paul commanded an 
English merchantman on a voyage to Tobago, when his crew mutinied, 
and the leader was killed by Paul in self defense. In Tobago, he was 
tried for manslaughter, and honorably acquitted, but returning to Eng¬ 
land, he heard rumors that he was to be tried again. Indignant, he de¬ 
parted for America, and thereupon added Jones to his name. From this 
frame house he went to offer his services to the Continental Army. 

Another old square house on the corner of Main and Charlotte 
Streets stands little outwardly changed. Early in the 19th century this 
was the home of Joanna Glassel, who returned to Scotland with her 
father, married the Duke of Argyle, and thus was grandmother to the 
Marquis of Lome, husband of Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess 
Louise. The Scotch considered this marriage a great distinction — for 
the Princess. 

On Main Street, beyond the railway, stands a private residence 
known as the Sentry Box. It was given this name because from it such 



128 Historic Houses of Early America 


a fine view up and down the river could be had that it was used as a 
lookout in three wars. Modernized within, it yet still presents some 
of the old features. The old staircase still mounts from a broad hall, 
the rooms are lofty and spacious. 

The exact date of this building is not known, but it was about 1750. 
It was to be the home of Dr. Hugh Mercer, and his wife lived here 
during the Revolution, but it is doubtful if he ever did, and he was 
killed before the war was over. Before alluding further to this dis¬ 
tinguished man, mention should be given another house, not far from 
the Sentry Box, and still occupied as a private residence. This was 
once the home of Dr. Charles Mortimer, the physician of Mary Wash¬ 
ington. A square frame building, it is shut off from the street by a stone 
wall, overgrown with ivy. 

On the corner of Main and Amelia Streets stands an old, low ram¬ 
bling wooden house in which was Mercer’s apothecary shop, where he 
sold drugs, besides attending to the duties of a practising physician, 
from 1763 until the outbreak of the Revolution. It is known that dur¬ 
ing those years he lived on Amelia Street, and since no record of 
another residence has been found, it seems reasonable to suppose that 
he and his family lived in the house in which was located his shop. 
Certainly there was room enough. 

At present it is closed, its windows boarded up, and looks dilapi¬ 
dated, but it was recently purchased by the Association for the Preser¬ 
vation of Virginia Antiquities, and awaits only enough money to put 
it in good repair, when it is to be opened as a museum. 

Dr. Mercer had a most interesting history. He was born at Aber¬ 
deen, Scotland, in 1725, descended on his father’s side from a long line 
of ministers, on his mother’s side from the Munros. 

Mercer joined the Pretender’s army as assistant surgeon, and when 
the Stuart cause was hopelessly lost left Leith, in 1746, for America. 
He first settled in Greencastle, now Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, prac¬ 
tised medicine, and acted as apothecary, as was the custom. 

Serving as captain in Braddock’s disastrous expedition, he was se¬ 
verely wounded, and left behind for dead by his own army. Wounded 



Other Virginia Estates 


129 


as he was, after a tramp through trackless forests, he succeeded in re¬ 
joining his comrades. Later, he was captain in one of the military or¬ 
ganizations formed for protection against the Indians. In 1756 he was 
given command of Pennsylvania territory, with headquarters at 
McDowell’s Fort. Fighting desperately with Indians, he was again 
severely wounded and abandoned by his comrades. Hiding in the hol¬ 
low trunk of a tree, he heard Indians searching for him, and discussing 
plans for scalping him when they found him. They did not find him, 
however, for he managed to march over a hundred miles, through the 
woods, eating roots and herbs, and it is said that his heartiest meal on 
this journey was a soup made from a dead rattlesnake. 

Recovered, he was again wounded in fighting Indians, and in rec¬ 
ognition of his services, received from the corporation of Philadelphia 
a note of thanks and a medal. 

By 1757 he was a major, in command of the forces of Pennsylvania 
west of the Susquehanna, and the following year was associated with 
General Forbes, at Fort Duquesne. Either here or earlier, under Brad- 
dock, he made the acquaintance of Washington, and it may have been 
at the latter’s suggestion that he came to Fredericksburg, where Wil¬ 
liam and John Paul were at the time probably living. Mercer was a 
fellow Mason with Washington in Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M., still 
located in Fredericksburg, although probably the original building is 
a small brick structure in the rear of the present lodge. 

In 1775 Mercer enrolled as a minuteman, and at the time that 
Governor Dunmore removed the colonial store of powder from the 
magazine in Williamsburg to the British man of war, Magdalen, was 
made colonel, and offered his services to the Virginia Convention in 
these words: 

“ Hugh Mercer will serve his adopted country and the cause of 
Liberty in any rank or station to which he may be assigned.” 

He went to Williamsburg the next year as a Brigadier General, and 
Washington appointed him to take charge of the troops at Paulus 
Hook, New Jersey. 

He was severely wounded at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 



I 3 ° 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


1777, and was apparently a mark for special fury on the part of the 
enemy, for after being wounded, he was beaten in the head as he lay 
helpless from his wounds. Perhaps had it not been for this he might once 
more have recovered, but although removed to a farmhouse nearby 
where everything possible was done by his own men for him, he died on 
January 12th. 

In 1784, Thomas Jefferson introduced a bill in Congress, and an 
appropriation was made for the education of Mercer’s youngest son, 
Hugh. This son died in the Sentry Box in 1853, and his son, Hugh K. 
Mercer, was a noted Confederate general. 

Every president from Washington to Buchanan has been a guest in 
the Sentry Box. 

The old Rising Sun tavern, built by Charles Washington, brother 
of the President, and also the town postmaster, was kept by Hugh 
Weedon, who afterwards distinguished himself in the Revolution, and 
became a general. This house, too, is cared for by the Association for 
the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and is interesting for many 
reasons. 

Noted men have slept in the two small, low rooms upstairs, and 
noted men, including Washington, have gathered in its lower rooms. 
Here Washington often joined the patriots, who made this their meet¬ 
ing place — it was looked upon before the Revolution broke out as a 
“ hot bed of sedition ” — and here he played cards with them. It was 
here that, as he mentions in his diary, he played cards and “ lost as 
usual,” adding that he feared that those Fredericksburg men were 
u too smart for him.” 

Here, arriving in town late one night, and not wishing to disturb 
his mother at that hour, he intended to spend the night, but news of 
his arrival circulated, and his mother dispatched a servant with the 
message: u Tell George to come home at once.” 

The Irish Weedon before the Revolution proposed this toast: 
“ May the Rose grow and the Thistle flourish, and may the Harp be 
attuned to the cause of American liberty! ” 

In this tavern, James Monroe early argued for freedom for the 



Other Virginia Estates ^5 


I 3 i 


slaves, and Weedon “ forever talked sedition with Mercer, the Scotch¬ 
man,” who, obliged to leave Scotland with the ruin of the Pretender’s 
cause, had no love for England. Weedon and Mercer married sisters. 

On Princess Anne Street, near the railway, stands a small frame 
house, bought by President Monroe or given him by his uncle, in order 
that he might become a property owner, thus qualified to vote, 
and to be a candidate for the Virginia Assembly. He never lived in 
the house, but on Charles Street was his law office, now marked by a 
tablet. 

At one end of Princess Anne Street is Hazel Hill, built by General 
John Minor, who in 1782 first in America advocated in the Virginia 
Assembly the freeing of slaves. The old slave block used in selling 
them is still standing on a Fredericksburg street corner. 

Near the other end of Princess Anne Street is a large red brick 
house, well over a century old. The interior still has some old land¬ 
scape paper made by Dufour about 1813 remaining on the walls. The 
house has no special history save that it and the little office near the 
gate have always been occupied by a physician, from the time of building 
in the 1750’s, by a Dr. Stevenson, down to the present day. 

In the yard at the rear stands a two-storied brick house, the original 
slave quarters of the residence, with great fireplaces, HL hinges, 
thick walls, etc. It has now been charmingly converted into an antique 
shop. 

A frame building on Charlotte Street, in which Matthew Fontaine 
Maury lived between the years 1836 and 1842 is still standing. 
Although not as old as most of the houses mentioned heretofore, it 
seems worthy of being included because not enough is known of this 
distinguished man. 

Born in 1806, he married Ann Herndon of Fredericksburg. An¬ 
other house in this city was also at one time occupied by them. In 1825, 
Maury was a midshipman in the American Navy, and six years later, 
master of the sloop Falmouth, he was ordered to take his ship to the 
Pacific. He found that no charts, no records of currents to be encoun¬ 
tered on this long voyage existed, and was forced to make them for 



132 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


himself. In the Charlotte Street house he wrote his “ Letters from a 
Luck Bag,” which first brought him into prominence. Here also he 
wrote a “ Treaty on Navigation.” 

In time, many honors came to him. The Pope sent him a complete 
collection of papal medals, an unusual honor, and since he could 
accept no presents from foreign governments without the consent of 
Congress, they made valuable gifts of jewels to his wife. At his death, 
it was wished to make her a gift of money from the American people, 
as a token of appreciation, but this she refused. 

On Hanover Street, a fine old colonial house, filled with rare old 
furniture, and with handsome carved mantels, is Federal Hill, so 
named by its owner, Governor Robert Brooke, who lived here in 1791. 
It was used by the northern army as headquarters during the Civil 
War, when the town was occupied. The great porch is paved with flag¬ 
stones, and old box borders still survive. Upstairs, a room said to have 
been occupied by Lafayette is believed to be haunted. 

One of the most interesting, and certainly the most beautiful house 
here has been left for the last. 

Kenmore, home of Betty Washington, would have been torn down 
had it not been for the exertions of Fredericksburg women, and espe¬ 
cially of Mrs. Fleming and her daughter, Mrs. H. H. Smith. 

It is not the first house on the estate, for one built by its owner, 
Fielding Lewis, was burned down, whereupon he built the present one 
in 1752. Four years earlier, he was living on Charles Street. The son 
of John Lewis of Gloucester, his first wife was Catherine Washington. 
When she died, he married George Washington’s only sister, Betty, 
for whom he built the new Kenmore house. Washington surveyed the 
land when Lewis bought it, and planted thirteen horse chestnut trees 
on an avenue between his mother’s home and Kenmore, one of which, 
suitably marked, survives to-day on Fauquier Street, between Charles 
and Prince Edward Streets. 

George Washington took a great interest in the house that was being 
built for his sister, and besides planting the horse chestnut trees, set 
out many of the trees and shrubs on the grounds. 




Other Virginia Estates 


133 


“ There was only sixteen months difference between her and her 
brother George, and always they were playmates and companions. 
When he cut the cherry tree down, threw the stone across the river, 
and broke the neck of his mother’s colt, she was right there, faithful 
and admiring, with sunbonnet tied on tight, sheepskin mittens, and 
perhaps a flannel mask to preserve her complexion. We do not know that 
she went to school to Master Hobby in Falmouth, but we know that 
when George and Samuel crossed the ferry to Parson Marye’s, she went 
with them to a Dame School, where she was taught French, English, the 
use of the globes and fine stitchery.” 2 

The Lewis family descended from one of Virginia’s earliest set¬ 
tlers. General Robert Lewis, son of Sir Edward, received a grant of 
33 > 333 t acres °f l an d in Gloucester County, Virginia, and came to this 
country about 1650. His son, Colonel John, probably built Warner 
Hall, “ like a baronial castle,” on part of this grant. The Colonel was 
a member of His Majesty’s Council, and his son John was the father 
of Betty Washington’s husband, Fielding. 

Another son of the Colonel, Robert, married Jane, the daughter of 
Colonel Nicholas Meriwether, of Clover Fields, and other adjoining 
lands. Robert served in the Revolution, and later settled at Belvoir. 
It was his son, Nicholas, who married Mary Walker, nicknamed 
w Captain Moll.” 

The first habitable building on the Albermarle County tract be¬ 
longing to Robert Lewis, a log house built in 1747, near a spring, is 
said still to be standing. 

Marmion, in King George County, has a house, said to have been 
built in 1674, by William Fitzhugh. Eventually this place came into 
the ownership of George Lewis, one of Fielding and Betty’s sons, 
and has remained-in the family ever since. The beautiful drawing 
room, with decorated panels, etc., is now owned by the Metropolitan 
Museum of Art, New York City. 

Fielding Lewis was a wealthy man at the time that he built Ken- 
more j a colonel of militia, member of the House of Burgesses, vestry- 

3 The Story of Kenmore, Mrs. Vivien Minor Fleming. 



134 6 % Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


man of St. George’s Church, a successful merchant, and the owner of 
large estates, while Betty Washington had a goodly dowry from her 
father, who had both lands and mining rights. 

In 1922, after having passed through many hands, Kenmore was 
to be sold again, and the grounds had already been staked off into 
building lots, when the two women mentioned before determined that 
it should be saved. Other Fredericksburg women responded to their 
appeal, and a promise from the owner was finally obtained that Ken¬ 
more should be theirs for $30,000, provided that $10,OOO of this sum 
be paid within four months. It seemed almost a hopeless undertaking, 
but the money was raised, Colonel I. N. Lewis, inventor of the Lewis 
gun, and a collateral descendant, contributing the first $1,000. Efforts 
are now being made to raise an endowment fund to keep the house in 
repair, and furnish it more fully with appropriate articles. 

It is a handsome square brick building, the walls two feet thick, set 
well back from what is now Washington Avenue, almost opposite the 
monument to Mary Washington. Originally there were small build¬ 
ings at each end, one an office, the other the kitchen. The latter is being 
copied in a new structure, which will serve as quarters for the custodian, 
and the other will be replaced, as soon as funds permit, with a fireproof 
room to contain records, etc. The outward appearance of Kenmore will 
then be as when built. 

Entering a broad hall running through to the rear, the stairs ascend 
with landings, and beneath them, opening from a narrow side corridor, 
is a small room, perhaps an office. Four large rooms are on the first 
floor, and one in the rear has an elaborate ceiling in stucco work, said 
to have been done by two Hessian prisoners sent for this purpose by 
Washington himself, after the Battle of Trenton. Over the mantel is 
an elaborate design suggested by him for his sister’s children, and exe¬ 
cuted by these Hessians. It depicts the fable of the fox, the crow and 
the piece of cheese, and teaches the dangers of flattery. This work was, 
of course, done years after the house was built. 

Across the hall is another room with the ceiling elaborately deco¬ 
rated in four sections, representing the four seasons, with palms for 



Other Virginia Estates ^5 


135 


Spring, grapes for Summer, acorns for Autumn, and mistletoe for 
Winter, probably done by the same workmen. Another room contains 
the Washington coat of arms, the head of the swan now gone, doubtless 
removed by some vandal. The two Hessians are said to have done work 
at Mt. Vernon as well. 

The great doors at Kenmore have the original brass rimlocks, 
brought from England, and all of the windows have great shutters. In 
the Fox and Crow room Betty Washington is said often to have sat 
with a book. This room overlooked the walk by which her mother daily 
came from her home to that of her daughter. Betty was fond of novel 
reading, of which her mother disapproved, so when the old lady came 
in sight, the novel was slipped behind one of the great shutters, and all 
was serene. 

In the wide hall, Washington was greeted by his mother and sister, 
on his return after the Battle of Yorktown. Some say that in one of 
Kenmore’s lower rooms the patriots gathered when news arrived that 
Lord Dunmore had removed the store of powder from the magazine 
in Williamsburg, and that here they drew up a resolution of protest, 
ending with the words: “ God save the liberties of America.” This was 
on April 29th, 1775. When Washington took command of the Con¬ 
tinental Army, two of Betty and Fielding’s sons went with him. 

Upstairs there are four more large square rooms, and already some 
fine old furniture has been assembled. 

It was in 177'5, that the Virginia Convention established a manu¬ 
factory of “ small arms ” in Fredericksburg, the first in the colonies, 
and appointed Fielding Lewis as one of three commissioners to head 
this. Land near the towh was purchased with “ a noble spring ” on it, 
still known as Gunnery Spring, and the factory was built. In less than a 
year, they were repairing old guns and turning out new ones which were 
said to be as good as any. 

“ The running expenses were estimated at £2,958 annually, which 
included stock, a master workman, and thirty others, besides negroes 
to do the drudgery and work the garden, rent for the mill and extras. 

u All the workmen took their dinners daily at the Gunnery, hence 



136 Historic Houses of Early America 


the need for a ‘ spacious garden.’ ” The factory “ turned out one hun¬ 
dred stand of arms a month, besides much repair work.” 

Colonel Lewis and Charles Dick, then living in Fredericksburg’s 
now oldest surviving house, staked their own fortunes to run this fac¬ 
tory. At one time, Lewis advanced “ seven thousand pounds, all that 
I had at that time on hand.” He had already contributed over £40,000 
to the Revolutionary cause, for he equipped and maintained three regi¬ 
ments. This amount, secured by mortgaging Kenmore, was the cause of 
his widow’s being compelled later to sacrifice the place. 

Old men, women and children worked in the factory making am¬ 
munition. 

After her husband’s death, Betty Lewis sold lot after lot from the 
estate, to satisfy creditors, and finally, in 1794, the house went also, 
Mrs. Lewis left Fredericksburg, never to return, and made her home 
with her married daughter, Elizabeth Carter, in Culpepper County, 
where she died three years later. About this time, the house was bought 
by Samuel Gordon, remaining in his family for sixty years. Then it be¬ 
came a boys’ school, and about forty years ago was bought in a dilapi¬ 
dated condition by W. Key Howard. His son labored lovingly and with 
skill to repair the damages to the beautiful stucco ornamentation, but in 
1914 it was again sold, and its fate seemed evident. Only a miracle 
could preserve it, but fortunately for all lovers of the beautiful and 
historic, the miracle was wrought. 

One of the ladies responsible for saving Kenmore tells of a visitor 
who became deeply interested in hearing of the gun factory, and the 
money advanced by the original owner of the beautiful house that she 
was then inspecting. 

“ Oh, yes,” eagerly she observed, “ Colonel Lewis. He is the man 
who invented the Lewis machine gun, of course.” 

Although she confused the two men, the earlier Colonel’s guns were 
used effectively in the battle of Yorktown, but their maker died on that 
very day. 

Just outside of Fredericksburg, the house on Willis Hill was prob¬ 
ably built by the grandnephew of the first of the family to come to 



(5 ^ Other Virginia Estates ^§5 


137 


Virginia. The pioneer died in England in 1691. The grandnephew, 
Henry, married for his third wife, even as he was her third husband, 
Mildred Washington, aunt of George and his brothers and sisters. 

This Henry was “ the top man of the town ” alluded to by Colonel 
Byrd, and the son, Lewis, was Washington’s constant boyhood com¬ 
panion. 

Byrd Willis inherited the place, and married Mary, one of the 
eleven children of Fielding and Betty Lewis. The daughter of Byrd 
Willis, Catherine, married for her second husband Prince Murat. 

Part of Willis Hill was sold, and in 1818 the Marye family built 
Brompton there. This house was headquarters of the Confederate Com¬ 
mander during the fierce fighting here, known as the Battle of Marye’s 
Heights, and by that name, instead of Willis, the hill is now known. 

Just across the river from Fredericksburg, reached by a bridge now, 
instead of the old ferry, stands Chatham, a white brick colonial house, 
no longer in the ownership of the family which built it, but carefully 
restored and tended. This is another place which is never shown to 
strangers. 

It was built by William Fitzhugh, and if a brick picked up near 
one of its old chimneys, and bearing the date: 1721, indicates the year 
when it was set up, the builder must have been the second William, 
son of the u emigrant,” who came to Virginia in 1670, was a renowned 
lawyer, and published a book in England on Virginia law. This first 
William’s will was probated in 1701 in Stafford County. 

Other chroniclers declare that the house was built here by the third 
William Fitzhugh, grandson of the second, and son of Henry of 
Eagle’s Nest, who married Lucy, another of “ King ” Carter’s children. 
In any case, it was the third William who gave the place its name, after 
his friend, the Earl of Chatham, and made it famous by his lavish 
hospitality, excellent wines, and private racecourse. This William mar¬ 
ried Ann Randolph, and their daughter married George Washington 
Parke Custis, Washington’s step-grandson, and adopted son. 

The courtship of George and Martha Daindrige Custis is said 
to have taken place under the old trees, or in the paneled rooms of 



*38 ($${ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Chatham, as well as at a later date, that of Robert E. Lee and Mary 
Custis. 

The gardens of Chatham are very lovely, and the house has a 
paneled hall more than twenty-five feet square, but much of the orig¬ 
inal paneling and woodwork of mahogany was torn out by the northern 
soldiers. On the place is an Indian cave, and along one of the walks a 
lady in white is said to stroll at times, wringing her hands, but the 
cause of her grief as well as her name, have both long been forgotten. 

Whether or not Washington courted his wife here, for other places 
claim this honor, his frequent visits to Chatham were, according to his 
own testimony, u among my most interesting memories,” and he thor¬ 
oughly enjoyed Mr. Fitzhugh’s “ good dinners, good wine, and good 
company.” 

In the early days of the 19th century, the house was owned in 
turn by two brothers named Jones. Still later, Washington Irving dined 
in the old house on a spring day, on “ jowl, turnip salad, poached eggs 
and corn pone, with dried cherry roll and hard sauce for dessert.” 
Surely a strange menu, but Irving was “ charmed and charming.” 8 

On the day before the Battle of Fredericksburg, the house was 
occupied by Federal troops. At that time it was owned by General 
Lacey, and he urged General Lee to train his guns on it, but Lee refused, 
for it was associated with his courtship and many happy memories. 

On the lawn here, Clara Barton is said to have begun her nursing. 

Not far from Chatham still stands Traveler’s Rest, where more 
than a hundred years ago, Catherine Willis went as a child bride with 
the owner, Atcheson Willis. Later, a widow at fourteen, she went to 
Florida, and it was there that she met Prince Murat. 

Belmont, on the outskirts of Fredericksburg, now the home of the 
distinguished artist, Gari Melchers, was built for Susanna Knox, by her 
father, Fitzhugh of Chatham. 

Stratford, forty miles from Fredericksburg, on the same side of the 
river as Chatham, is the ancient home of the Lees. Even those not in¬ 
terested in genealogy will perhaps pardon a digression here, for once 

3 Historic Periods of Fredericksburg, Mrs. Vivien Minor Fleming. 



Other Virginia Estates )&$§*) 


139 


one enters Virginia, if never before, the great prominence of this family 
is realized. 

In 1642, Richard Lee patented 1,000 acres in Westmoreland 
County, and began building Stratford. His son John inherited it, but 
died without heirs, and it passed to his brother Richard, who was edu¬ 
cated at Oxford University. Richard’s fourth son John was living in the 
house in 1729, when it burned down, his wife and child having to be 
thrown from an upper window to save their lives, while he himself was 
“ mudh scorched.” 

Queen Caroline of England liked and admired Lee so greatly that 
she sent him “ a bountiful present from her privy purse,” and he built 
the present house. It contains more than twenty rooms, with a central 
hall twenty-five by thirty feet. In this great apartment it is said that 
sessions of the courts were at one time held, as well as religious services, 
and this explains why the hall was built so large. 

Thomas, son of Colonel Richard Lee, the second of that name, was 
very prominent in the Council, and also at one time was acting Governor 
of the State. The last Lee to own the property, Major J. Henry, died 
in France in 1837. 

The Lee family contributed to Virginia while it was a province, one 
governor, four members of the Council of State, and twelve members 
of the House of Burgesses. To the colony of Maryland they gave two 
Councillors and three members of the Assembly. Four Lees were mem¬ 
bers of the Convention of 1776, two signed the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence, and one of the leading cavalry officers in the Revolution was 
Light Horse Harry Lee. 

After the Revolution, the family was no less prominent, for among 
its members were an Attorney General, several Members of Congress, 
two governors of the State of Virginia, and one of Maryland} in 
the Civil War, in addition to the famous and beloved Commander- 
in-chief, Robert E. Lee, there were three Major Generals and one 
Brigadier General of the name, while in the Spanish War, General 
Fitzhugh Lee, at the time of its outbreak Consul General in Cuba, be¬ 
came a Major General in the United States Army. 



140 Historic Houses of Early America 


Ditchley, on Chesapeake Bay, was another place belonging to a 
Lee, the first to come to this country, and his seventh son, Hancock, is 
buried there. The original house was built by Hancock Lee about 1687, 
the present one in 1765, by his descendant, and the place remained in 
the Lee ownership until 1789, when it was sold to James Buell, Junior j 
but as he married Lettice Lee, it did not really go out of the family, 
and has remained the property of their descendants ever since. 

Still another Lee estate is Chantilly, Westmoreland County, the 
property of Richard Henry Lee. Cobbs, one more of the Lee estates, 
was two hundred years old, according to Bishop Meade, when the house 
was removed in-his day. 

Another old place on the north side of the Rappahannock, Sabine 
Hall, was one of the holdings of the omnipresent Carter family. It 
was not an original grant to them, but was bought by Colonel Landon 
Carter, one of the “ King ” *s grandsons, early in the 18 th century, 
and the house was built in 1730. Landon married first a Miss Armi- 
stead, then Maria Byrd of Westover, and built Sabine Hall for her, 
having his own brick kilns. 

Landon was a determined man. It is told that he and others of the 
neighborhood did not like the minister who had been sent to them, so 
they locked him out of his church, compelling him for some time to hold 
services in the churchyard. 

Robert, another of “ King ” ’s sons, known as the Councillor, had 
on his estate at Nomini a veritable army of workers in various trades, 
such as blacksmiths, colliers, a stocking loom maker, a cabinet maker, 
ten carpenters, three coopers, and two postillions to ride with his coach 
and four. He is said to have owned sixty-two male slaves, and twenty- 
seven women and children. 

Leaving the vicinity of Fredericksburg, on the way to Washington, 
and but a few miles south of that city, is Gunston Hall, the home of 
George Mason. Close to old Pohick church, which both Mason and 
Washington attended, one leaves the highroad, and winds through the 
woods for four miles, until the beautiful house is reached. 

The George Mason who built it was the son of another George, one 



6?^ Other Virginia Estates ^5 


141 


of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, the third generation of the 
name in Virginia. The first George Mason came here in 1657, an d was 
known as the Cavalier. The builder of Gunston Hall, close friend of 
Washington, married Ann Eilbeck, said to have been one of Washing¬ 
ton’s early loves, but this made no difference in the friendship of the 
two men. 

Built about a century and a half ago, the house was a favorite visit¬ 
ing place for many noted men. George Washington was often rowed 
down from Mt. Vernon in a four-oared gig, manned by negroes in 
livery, to visit his friend, or take Sunday dinner with him. In the house 
are pointed out the Jefferson room, and Lafayette room, occupied by 
them on visits, while in the library, Jefferson and Mason are said to 
have made the first rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. 
The same story is told of Rosewell. 

This lovely house and its charming grounds had a very narrow 
escape. After passing out of the Mason family ownership seventy years 
ago, various persons had from time to time bought and sold it, making 
changes, or allowing lack of repairs to effect others, until a few years 
ago it was again put up for sale. A dairyman seemed about to acquire 
it, and boasted that he intended to “ tear down all that old stuff,” and 
convert it into a first class dairy farm, for which it was well suited as far 
as location and natural advantages went. Fortunately he did not get 
the place. Instead it was purchased by a couple from Massachusetts, 
with both the means and the taste to put it back into its present perfect 
condition. 

The new owners employed twenty workmen for an entire year 
to restore it to good condition. The glass paned doors of the old cup¬ 
boards on either side of the big old fireplaces in the lower rooms had 
been broken or torn off, sometimes leaving a fragment by which it was 
possible to have replicas made. There had to be much removing of 
paint, re-painting, and even changes, to restore the original appearance 
within and without. One late owner had built a disfiguring tower on 
the house, and another had erected an ugly brick building which entirely 
shut off the beautiful view in the rear. 



142 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


The house is a story and a half high, the upper rooms lighted by 
dormer windows. A wide hall runs through from front to back, with 
big old doors, the stairs mounting with a landing half way up, at the 
rear of the hall, and supported as they turn by an archway beneath 
which one passes to the rear door. 

There are the usual four rooms on the lower floor, all large, square, 
high-ceiled, with exquisitely carved cornices, mantels, and other wood¬ 
work. That in the front room at the right, the drawing room, is said to 
be the finest existing example of Chinese Chippendale. Across the hall 
is the library, its cupboards on either side of the fireplace now serving 
as bookcases, as they may have done in Mason’s time. Over the carved 
mantel hangs a photograph of his Bill of Rights, photographed by per¬ 
mission of Congress from the original, preserved in Washington. This 
seemed to the present owners a highly suitable decoration, for here in 
this room that paper was drawn up. Behind the library is the dining 
room, and another sitting room, or possibly “ the chamber,” lies be¬ 
hind the drawing room. 

By the rear door, one steps out on a porch, from which a brick walk, 
bordered with wonderful old box hedges, nine or more feet high — the 
finest which the writer has ever seen save for the remarkable wall of 
box trees at Castle Hill — runs down to a pavilion, from which is a 
truly exquisite view. Directly below, reached by a flight of steps, is the 
old flower garden, now with a new lease of life, since it is carefully 
tended, and beyond, looking over a gentle slope, may be seen the blue 
Potomac. 

Former owners have cut down many of the old trees which once 
shaded the beautiful grounds of Gunston Hall, although one passes 
through a grove of quite large trees before reaching the circular drive¬ 
way in front of the house, but fortunately no one thought of selling 
or destroying the beautiful old box hedges, loved by the present owners 
as they must have been by those who planted them — probably George 
Mason himself — and watched them become things of beauty. Down 
this old box-bordered walk, and through the old rooms many distin¬ 
guished guests have strolled in the early days of our Republic. 



6 ?^ Other Virginia Estates ^§5 


143 


The house is, of course, not open to the usual visiting stranger, but 
the writer was privileged to see the lower rooms and the exquisite old 
garden under the guidance of the gracious owner. 

George Mason was responsible for the separation of Church and 
State in this country. The State used to determine the amount that each 
citizen should contribute to the support of the former. Mason brought 
about the change which left it to each one’s conscience and choice to 
determine the amount of church contributions. 

Back on the highroad to Washington, shortly after leaving Pohick 
church behind, there may be seen on a hill at the left, some distance 
from the road, Woodlawn, a fine old brick house, home of Nellie 
Custis, Martha Washington’s granddaughter, and her husband, Major 
Lawrence Lewis, Washington’s greatnephew. 

In sleepy, old Alexandria stands the Ramsay house, oldest in the 
city, as a tablet affixed by the Chamber of Commerce states. 

The house stands on a corner, only a stone’s throw from the 
Carlyle mansion, and like the latter, the garden originally must have 
run down to the river. Now a dilapidated board fence shuts off what 
is left of both gardens from the street in the rear. William Ramsay 
built the house in 1751, and his son, Dennis, was a compatriot of Wash¬ 
ington during the Revolution, serving as a colonel. He was also one of 
Washington’s honorary pallbearers. Mrs. Annie McCarty Ramsay col¬ 
lected money to aid in the financing of the Revolution, as is also stated 
on the tablet. 

The frame building is of two stories and attic, now very shabby 
and dilapidated, with a store on the ground floor, unoccupied in the 
autumn of 1926, nor did the house show signs of life. It is undoubtedly 
doomed soon to disappear. 

To visit the Carlyle mansion, or as it is often called the Braddock 
house, one must cross the hallway of a modern apartment house, and 
passing out by a rear door, part of the old stone paved walk leads to 
the original flight of steps and front door of this historic old residence, 
which may be seen daily on payment of a small fee. 

John Carlyle came to this country about 1740, and settled in Dum- 



144 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


fries, Virginia. By 1744, he was located at Bellhaven, which four years 
later was incorporated as Alexandria. In 1752 he built the Carlyle 
house, on the corner of Fairfax and Cameron Streets. Some say that it 
was built over an old fort, whose rooms are now called the dungeons. 

In 1758, Carlyle was appointed Royal Collector for South Potomac. 
He married Sarah, daughter of William Fairfax, a grandson of Henry, 
fourth Lord Fairfax, of Denton, Yorkshire, England. At twenty, Wil¬ 
liam Fairfax served in Spain, under his cousin, Colonel Martin Bladen. 
He was then appointed agent for his first cousin, Thomas, sixth Lord 
Fairfax, and went to live at Belvoir, on the Potomac. His son by his 
second wife, Brian, became the eighth Lord Fairfax. 

John Carlyle was a prominent man, a member of the Committee of 
Safety, and took part in the Revolution. He was twice married, and by 
his second wife had an only son, George William, born in 1765. Had 
the latter lived, he would have inherited the title of Lord Carlyle, 
after the death of his first cousin, the Reverend John Daere Carlyle, 
who died without sons in England, in 1804. But George William when 
not yet seventeen, joined Light Horse Harry Lee’s Legion, and was 
killed at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina. His father had 
died the year before, and the estate went to the young cadet’s nephew. 
His half sister, mother of the heir, was the daughter of Sarah Fairfax. 
The heir’s granddaughter married her cousin, Thomas, ninth Lord 
Fairfax. 

The Fairfaxes and Culpeppers also intermarried. Thomas Fairfax 
married Lord Culpepper’s daughter, and was the seventh Fairfax to 
become Lord Cameron. During Cromwell’s time, or soon afterwards, 
the Fairfax family records were hidden for safe keeping, and lost. 
They remained lost for nearly two hundred years, when a box was 
found, apparently filled with tiles. Someone removed a layer of these, 
and there underneath were the records. 

The Carlyle house is called Braddock, because of the council which 
that General held there before undertaking the expedition against Fort 
Duquesne, which was to result in his death, as well as because for some 
time Braddock made it his headquarters. The council was attended by 






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One of the fine mantels in beautiful Kenmore, Frcdcricsburg, Virginia. Here Betty 
Washington and her husband Fielding Lewis lived. The plaster work of this mantel 
was done by two Hessian prisoners, sent by George Washington to decorate Kenmore, 
and the design, showing the Fox, the Crow and the Cheese, teaching the dangers of 
flattery, is said to have been drawn by Washington himself. 
























6?^ Other Virginia Estates 


145 


the colonial governors of five states, including Robert Dinwiddie, 
Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, Robert Hunter Morris, “ whose 
thankless task it was to get war votes out of the Pennsylvania assembly 
of Quakers and lethargic German farmers; Horatio Sharpe, the brave 
and energetic gentleman who was Governor of Maryland; James De 
Lancey of New York, and William Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts 
— who although past sixty years of age, was as strenuous as Dinwiddie, 
and eager for the field, Chough he had been bred a lawyer.” 4 

Here also came Benjamin Franklin, Richard Henry Lee, Colonel 
William Johnson, Commodore Keppel, Peter Halkett, many British 
officers, and George Washington, then a young lieutenant, who attracted 
Braddock’s attention at this time. Here was planned the expedition 
which led to Braddock’s death. 

It was from the Carlyle house that Braddock wrote to Sir Thomas 
Robinson, urging the imposing of a tax on tea on the colonies, to repay 
the British Government for sums spent on the war with France. 

In 1785, another conference was held in this house between Wash¬ 
ington and the Governors of Maryland and Virginia, to settle the 
boundary line between the two commonwealths, and other differences. 
From this meeting came the call for an assembling of delegates from 
all of the colonies to meet in Philadelphia in 1787. This convention 
framed the Constitution of the United States. 

Colonel Carlyle and his family were frequent visitors at Mt. Ver¬ 
non, even as Washington was often a guest at the Carlyle home, Alex¬ 
andria. 

Arlington, now a naval and military cemetery, is interesting only 
for visitors to its graves; the house is a mere shell, all of its old furnish¬ 
ings long since removed. A bill was passed a year or more ago by the 
House of Representatives to provide money for its upkeep, but has not 
yet passed the Senate. It is the hope of those behind the movement to 
refurnish the house in harmony with the period of its building, and 
make it a museum. 

It was built in 1802, by George Washington Parke Custis, grandson 

4 History of the American Peofle, Woodrow Wilson. 



146 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


of Martha Washington, and the President’s adopted son. After Martha 
Washington’s death, Mary Custis and Robert E. Lee were married in 
the drawing room at Arlington, and when Mary inherited the place, on 
the death of her father in 1857, they lived here. At the time of the 
marriage, Lee was in the United States Engineers. 

John Custis, the first of the family in America, came to Virginia in 
1640 from Rotterdam, where he is said to have kept a hotel which was 
very popular with English travelers. He had six sons and one daughter; 
the latter married the son of Governor Yeardley, so the family was 
early connected with prominent Virginians. The most conspicuous of 
his six sons, John, was made a Major General at the time of Bacon’s 
Rebellion. 

Mt. Vernon is too familiar to be described here, but something of 
its early history may be of interest. 

John Washington, the first of his name in America, settled at 
Bridge’s Creek, Virginia, in 1656, and there is found the old family 
burial ground. He was a member of the House of Burgesses, and the 
parish received his name, Washington. He married three times. No 
trace of his house remains. 

His grandson, Augustine, built the house already mentioned on the 
west side of Pope’s Creek, in which the First President was born, and 
which burned to the ground. To his first wife’s son, Lawrence, Augus¬ 
tine Washington gave a tract of land now known as Mt. Vernon, upon 
Lawrence’s return from a campaign in the West Indies, under Admiral 
Vernon. The son named his place after his old commander. George 
Washington frequently visited his half brother as a boy, and eventually 
inherited the place. 

Another Washington estate, Bushfield on the Nomini, the home 
of George’s youngest brother, John Augustine Washington, has disap¬ 
peared. 

That our First President liked luxury, is shown by an order sent to 
London before his marriage to Mrs. Custis. This order called for “ a 
mahogany bedstead with carved and fluted pillars, and yellow silk and 
worsted damask hangings, window curtains to match; mahogany chairs 




Other Virginia Estates )$$$ 


147 


with seats of yellow silk and worsted damask, an elbow chair, a fine, neat 
mahogany serpentine dressing table, with a long mirror and brass trim¬ 
mings, a pair of fine carved and gilt sconces.” 

The piazza at Mt. Vernon is floored with stone flags, imported from 
Lord Lonsdale’s estate near Whitehaven, England. 

Martha Washington was no idle lady of leisure. She rose at dawn 
all the year round, and always retired to her room for one hour after 
breakfast, for private prayer. 

Washington once compared Mt. Vernon to “ a well resorted tav¬ 
ern.” Mr. Faris quotes from a letter written by him to George Lewis, 
which has a strangely modern note: the servant question. 

u This running off of my cook has been a most inconvenient thing 
for the family, and what rendered it more disagreeable is that I had 
resolved never to become the master of another slave by purchase, but 
this resolution I fear I must break. I have endeavoured to hire, black 
or white, but am not yet supplied.” This letter was dated November 
13th, 1797. 

How the belongings of Washington were scattered is shown by 
the following extract from Bishop Meade’s History of Old Virginia 
Churches and Families. He says in part: 

“ In a way I need not state, I got Washington’s coach about fifteen 
years after Washington’s death. It was too heavy to use, and began to 
decay and give way.” The Bishop thereupon “ caused it to be taken to 
pieces, and distributed among the admiring friends of Washington, — 
and also a number of female associations for benevolent and religious 
objects.” It was then cut up and made into walking sticks, picture frames 
and snuff boxes, and “ about two thirds of one wheel yielded $140,” as 
the Bishop naively remarks, apparently with no sense of regret that the 
valuable relic had not been preserved complete. He himself “ kept the 
hind seat on which the General and his lady were wont to sit,” and used 
it for some time as a sofa in his study. 

Washington, the national capital, although a new city, has an old 
history. 

Accounts of this section of the country were published in England 



148 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


as early as 1621. Captain John Smith explored it in 1608, and speaks 
of the Patawomeke, and praised the location and climate. Washington 
and Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant met at a house in Georgetown to 
discuss the latter’s plans for the city. Here they learned that in 1663 
one Francis Pope had a vision, in which he saw a stately building on 
what is now Capitol Hill. He bought the land, and called it Rome, 
while a stream at the foot of the hill was given the name of the Tiber. 
These names appear on an old map. It was from Pope’s descendants 
that the land was acquired. 

L’Enfant was removed before his plans were entirely carried out. 
He refused tardily offered compensation by Congress, and spent the 
last years of his life on the various estates of the Bigges family, and 
dying, was buried on the estate of Chillum Castle Manor, near Bla- 
densburg. 

The first mistress of the unfinished White House was Mrs. John 
Adams, who accompanied her husband there in 1800. Congress had 
voted $6,000 for furnishings, but these had not arrived. Most members 
of the Government then had to live in Georgetown. 

Mrs. Adams liked her new home none too well. In a letter, she 
calls it “ this great castle,” while, although it was “ surrounded with 
forests,” wood was “ not to be had, because people cannot be found to 
cut and cart it — the great unfinished audience room I make a drying 
room of, to hang up the clothes in. The principal stairs are not up, and 
will not be this winter.” 

After the War of 1812, when it was burned by the British, to re¬ 
build and refurnish the White House cost $300,000, and on January 
1, 1818, the first New Year’s reception was held in it. 6 

John Tayloe, of Mt. Airy, Virginia, in 1798 commissioned Dr. Wil¬ 
liam Thornton, the architect, to build him a Washington home, and 
three years later it was finished. 

This, known as the Octagon house, at the comer of 17th Street and 
New York Avenue, N. W., has a large circular vestibule, opening into 
a hall paved with black and white marble, at the rear of which a fine 
8 Historic Shrines of America John T. Faris. 



6^ Other Virginia Estates ^5 


149 


staircase mounts with a landing. Some of the old garden and its en¬ 
closing brick wall remain, and bits of the old box hedges once bordering 
the walks. 

Mr. Tayloe was a worthy son of Virginia, and maintained his state’s 
reputation for hospitality. When the White House was burned by the 
British, he offered the Octagon house as a residence to the President, 
who accepted the offer. In an upper room, on the famous table, with its 
curious triangular drawers, the so-called “ Treaty table,” the Treaty of 
Ghent, marking the close of the War of 1812 with England, was signed 
on February 18th, 1815. 

For a time used for a girls’ school, the house came down in the world 
as years passed, until eight or ten colored families occupied it as a tene¬ 
ment. The table had been purchased by a San Franciscan, and was in 
that city during the earthquake and fire of 1906. The owner saved it 
by wrapping it in sheets, and taking it with her when she was obliged 
to leave her home. Then the San Francisco chapter of the American 
Association of Architects bought it for $1,000, and when the general 
Association bought the Octagon house for their headquarters, after first 
occupying it on a lease, the San Francisco architects sent on the table, 
which is now in its old place. 

No. 2017 I Street, N. W., residence of Gideon Granger, Post¬ 
master of the United States from 1801 to 1814, was begun in 1802, 
but sold in 1808 by him. 

James Monroe lived in this house while Secretary of State, Secre¬ 
tary of War, and for a few months after he became President. Presi¬ 
dent Madison, Secretary of State Monroe, and Secretary of War Arm¬ 
strong held a grave conference here on August 14th, 1814, when the 
Battle of Bladensburg was in progress. The British advanced so rapidly 
that it is told that Monroe galloped on horseback through the halls of 
the house in order to escape, but this story seems unfounded. 

The fagade was changed in 1881, an additional story added, and it 
is now the home of the Arts Club of Washington. 

The house is of red brick, the lower floor has three windows across 
the front, with a door at one end, and these three windows are all in 



150 Historic Houses of Early America 


the spacious reception room, opening with a great archway into another 
large square apartment. These two, with the hall, occupy the entire 
main part of this floor, but there is a rear extension, with kitchen and 
other rooms. Broad, low stairs, mahogany railed, lead to the second 
floor, where are two more large connecting rooms, and a smaller one 
over the front of the lower hall. The old drawing room measured fif¬ 
teen by thirty-two feet. The lower hall has the usual black and white 
marble floor of the period, and a handsome lunette over the front door. 
When occupied by Monroe, the house contained twenty rooms. 

General James Maccubbin Lingan, a distinguished officer in the 
Revolution, “ either from prescience or coincidence,” in January, 1791, 
a few months before the site for the city of Washington as the Capital 
was selected, purchased this lot. In 1802, he sold twenty-five feet 
frontage on the west, and three years later, an additional frontage of 
seven feet to Timothy Caldwell. Caldwell first built a small house 
which now forms the rear portion of the present building, and when he 
secured additional land, built the main portion in front of the first 
house. He intended to build the u handsomest house in the city near 
Washington Circle.” Caldwell was a brickmaker, and had lived on Race 
Street, Philadelphia, his brickyards being in Hickory Lane. 

After Caldwell, the British Minister, the Right Honorable Strat¬ 
ford Canning, occupied the Granger house from 1820 to 1823. He and 
his attaches could not get into the White House to attend President 
Monroe’s second inauguration, because of the crowd. 

Canning gave a unique ball, but was not in good health, and at 
public dinners, drank the healths proposed in toast and water, which 
habit was much criticised. 

The Hon. Charles Richard Vaughan, the next British Minister, 
also occupied the Granger house. The Mayor of Washington, rather 
tactlessly, one would say, invited Vaughan to the Fourth of July cele¬ 
bration, but the latter tactfully replied that “ he would be indisposed on 
the 4th of July.” 

A New Year’s crowd of President Jackson’s admirers so filled the 
White House, that Vaughan, who had gone with the intention of pay- 



Other Virginia Estates 


I 5 i 


ing his respects, on arriving, exclaimed: “ This is too d—d democratic 
for me! ” and went home. 

In 1828, the civil marriage ceremony between Marcia Van Ness and 
Sir William Gore Ouseley, who at the time was attache of the British 
Legation, was performed in this house. 

Virgil Maxey, while Solicitor of the Treasury, also lived in it. 

Alphonse Pageot, Secretary of the French Legation, Baron de 
Mareschal, Austrian Minister, Charles Francis Adams, from 1857 to 
1861, while Representative for Massachusetts, Silas Casey, a Civil War 
General, were other occupants, and then it was used for St. John’s 
School. 

Samuel Harrison Smith, editor and proprietor of The Intelligencer , 
writes his wife, his “ dearest Margaret,” that he had just returned 
from a dinner party at General Dearborn’s, where he met Mrs. Madi¬ 
son and Mrs. Duval. u Mr. Granger, who was present, and who is a 
very agreeable man, after a few bottles of champagne were emptied, on 
the observation of Mr. Madison that it was the most delightful wine 
when drunken in moderation, but that more than a few glasses always 
produced a headache next day, remarked with point that this was the 
very time to try the experiment, as the next day being Sunday, would 
allow time for a recovery from its effects. The point was not lost upon 
the host, and bottle after bottle came in, without, however, I assure you, 
the least invasion of sobriety. Its only effects were accumulated good 
humor, and uninterrupted conversation.” 

Mrs. Benjamin Crowninshield, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, 
wrote “ Dec. 1, 1815. I think I told you we were to dinner at Mrs. 
Monroe’s, I Street, the day before yesterday. We had the most stylish 
dinner I have ever been at. The table wider than we have, and in the 
middle a large perhaps silver waiter, with images like some Aunt Sils- 
bee has, only more of them, and vases filled with flowers, which made 
a very showy appearance as the candles were lighted when we went to 
table. The dishes were silver, and set round this waiter. The plates were 
handsome china — the forks silver, and so heavy that I could hardly 
lift them to my mouth j dessert knives silver, and spoons very heavy. 



152 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Mrs. Monroe is a very elegant woman. She was dressed in a very fine 
muslin worked in front and lined with pink, and a black velvet turban 
close and spangled. Her daughter, Mrs. Hay, a red silk sprigged in 
colors, white lace sleeves, and a dozen strings of coral round her neck. 
The drawing room was handsomely lighted — transparent lamps, I 
call them — all the furniture French, and andirons, something entirely 
new.” The six year old grandchild, dressed in plaid, was also apparently 
present at this “ stylish dinner,” for she, too, is mentioned in this letter. 

The house once occupied by Stephen Decatur, at F Street and Jack- 
son Square, has one window bricked up. But on the anniversary of his 
death, the figure of Decatur -may, it is said, be seen at a certain hour, 
standing at, and gazing out of the bricked-up window. 

In West Virginia, but in Virginia before the Civil War, Charles 
Town is historic. George Washington probably surveyed the site, which 
was on his brother Charles’ estate, and it was named for the latter. 
Incidentally, it was in Charles Town’s Court House that John Brown 
was tried and convicted. 

Five miles from the town is Claymont, first known as Happy Re¬ 
treat, built about 1820 by Bushrod Washington, nephew of the Presi¬ 
dent. A long, low, colonial house, connected with the main portion by 
long passages are two smaller buildings, servants’ quarters and the 
office of the master of the estate. 

Harewood, mansion of the President’s brother, Samuel, is said to 
have been built under supervision of the former. To this house Dorothy 
Todd came from Philadelphia in Thomas Jefferson’s coach, to be mar¬ 
ried to James Madison, Light Horse Harry Lee being present at the 
ceremony. Lafayette, Louis Philippe and his two brothers were guests 
at Harewood, and this place, too, has remained in the family of the 
original owner. 





Chapter VII 

The Earliest Colonial Houses Now Standing ^§5 


A 

ii lthough the Virginia settlement is thirteen years older, and again 
although Virginia has a goodly share of not merely old but very 
interesting houses, after Florida and New Mexico it is to Massachusetts 
that one must turn for the next oldest survivors, and which also have 
interest aside from their age. Here again are two rival claimants for 
the title of oldest, and both are venerable. But since it forms a con¬ 
venient centre, before visiting these two houses, let us stop in Boston. 

Every visitor here will surely wish to see the Paul Revere house, 
as may be done on any week day by paying a small fee. If strolling 
anywhere in the vicinity, possibly with no thought of paying such a visit, 
attention will be called to it. A little group of children will appear from 
side streets, almost one might fancy that they sprang from the very 
sidewalks. These children, almost all of Italian parentage, although 
they would proudly proclaim themselves Americans, will surround one, 
will urge, entreat, admonish. 

“ Aren’t you going to Paul Revere’s house? ” “ Have you been to 
Paul Revere’s house? ” or: “ Let me take you to Paul Revere’s house,” 
they cry, and proffer printed descriptions. One smiling Italian woman 
was even teaching her lisping baby to say: “ Paul Revere’s house,” as 
she stood and watched the would-be guides. 

His former residence stands directly on the street, its threshold al¬ 
most level with the sidewalk; beside it is an old hitching post, while a 
wooden drain pipe still leads from the eaves, although now emptying 
into a modern city drain. 


153 



15 4 6 % Historic Houses of Early America 


From the street, the substantial old house seems of but two stories, 
for there is no sign of the attic in the steep roof. The windows of the 
front fagade are filled with small leaded panes, reproductions of one 
old window found in the attic when restorations were begun. 

Passing into a small entry, one comes into a large room running 
across the rest of the front, with a window in the rear, opening on what 
was doubtless once a large garden, now merely a small yard, hemmed 
in by modern buildings. The room has the great fireplace that one 
expects to find in so old a house. Behind the front room is a small one, 
and there are two similar rooms above, the stairs ascending steeply from 
the entry. Over the entire house is an attic. Built in 1670, its most dis¬ 
tinguished resident, Paul Revere, lived in it from 1770 to 1800. 

Paul was skilled in twenty-two trades, and became the father of 
sixteen children. Before his first marriage, he was second lieutenant in 
the artillery, and took part in the expedition against Crown Point in 
1757. He was one of the party, disguised as Indians, who threw the 
famous cargo of tea into Boston Harbor, and before the ride which 
Longfellow (helped make famous, had already made two others of 
almost equal importance. The first was on the occasion of the Tea 
Party, the second after the Boston Port Bill was enacted four months 
later, when he rode to Philadelphia with the news, making the trip in 
six days. Then, on April 18, 1775, came the third, when he rode to 
alarm the Lexington patriots. 

Fortunately the Revere house was purchased by the Daughters of 
the American Revolution, and has been carefully restored, the four 
rooms filled with interesting old furniture, bedspreads, candlesticks, 
etc., with original letters written by Revere, and other rare old docu¬ 
ments. Only a few of these articles, save the letters, belonged to him, 
or were originally in the house, but a fine old carved chest in the lower 
front room was his. 

Most of the woodwork and floors are the original, and in making 
the repairs, a bit of old paper like that once covering the walls of the 
lower room was found in the attic, was carefully copied, and used, the 
pattern showing St. Mary’s-le-Bow, on the Strand, London. 



6?^ The Earliest Colonial Houses ^5 


155 


As in all modern cities, growth and increasing population have 
meant in Boston the disappearance of old landmarks, so one must not 
expect to find many survivors to-day. Aside from the disastrous fire of 
1872, which destroyed a number, the widening of old streets, the change 
of residential sections into those devoted to business, account for the 
disappearance of others. When in 1912 a list of “ Forty of Boston’s 
Historical Houses ” was published by the State Trust Company, even 
then the majority of the forty had already been torn down. A few still 
survive. 

The Capen house, at 41-45 Union Street, was standing at least in 
the autumn of 1926, and used as an oyster house. Capen was a town 
officer, Sergeant in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, and a shop¬ 
keeper. It was to him that Benjamin Thompson, the future Count 
Rumford, was apprenticed as a boy. 

The home of Josiah Quincy, of the distinguished family which will 
be mentioned at length later, stands on Park Street. He was Mayor of 
Boston, President of Harvard College, and a prominent citizen. 

The Hotel Touraine occupies the site of the John Quincy Adams 
house, in which Charles Francis Adams was born. The latter illustrious 
man was Member of Congress, United States Minister to England, and 
under President Lincoln was appointed to represent the United States 
in the Alabama Claims Tribunal, which met at Geneva. 

Leaving Boston, at Dorchester one finds a house which Baedeker 
styled the “ second oldest house in the United States,” the Pierce house. 
Although, as has been seen, this is not true, it probably is second oldest 
in the Colonies. Standing on a site which will soon be very valu¬ 
able, since the city is rapidly extending in that direction, its demoli¬ 
tion is only a question of a few years at most. Marion Harland (Mrs. 
Terhune), in Some Colonial Homesteads , gives the date of building 
of the oldest part as 1640, but others say that it is three hundred 
years old. 

In 1630, on the ship Mary and John, Robert Pierce set sail from 
England for the Massachusetts colony. John Pierce, presumably his fa¬ 
ther, had a patent of land in that colony as early as 1621. Robert first 



156 Historic Houses of Early America 


settled on Pine Neck. Then, in 1640, according to Mrs. Terhune, he 
built his house in I)orchester, one of but two in the county. 

It was owned by the Pierces until quite recently. Some years ago, 
they built a fine new house on the opposite side of the street, and into 
this they moved, taking with them much of the old furniture from the 
old homestead. Then ill fortune came, and the last Pierce owner was 
obliged to sell the new house, which, although standing a year ago, was 
to be torn down almost immediately. Meanwhile, the old one had sur¬ 
vived, occupied by an elderly lady and her son. The latter was so in¬ 
terested in it that he spent much of his leisure time in repairing it. 

The oldest part, a two-story building, is not used by mother and son, 
but the old addition of two stories and attic, under a long sloping roof, 
probably thought very elegant when built, is their home. It has the low 
ceilings, small entry, with steep winding stairs, and it also has the solid 
old timbers of early days, for the frame of the house is of black oak. 

John Pierce married Ann Green way, daughter of one of the early 
settlers, and when he came from England brought with him his coat- 
of-arms. Mrs. Terhune tells the following story of his grandson, John, 
showing how strictly the Puritans observed the Sabbath. It was, she 
explains, hardly customary for men to shave oftener than once a week, 
and this in preparation for the Sabbath and church services. 

John had been busy, or had put off his Saturday afternoon shave 
so late that the sun set as he finished shaving just one half of his face. 
Since the Puritan Sabbath began at sundown, he wiped his razor, re¬ 
moved the lather from his face, and the following day went to meeting 
with one side smoothly shaven, the other with a week’s growth of beard 
upon it. . 

John left seven children, and eight others died in infancy. 

His grandson, Samuel, married at the outbreak of the Revolution, 
and the day marked three important events for him: his marriage, the 
receipt of a commission as captain from the King’s Government, and 
that of a colonel from the Continental Congress. He chose the latter. 

It was Colonel Samuel who built the addition to the house. 

The parlor in the newer part had nine doors. Here, when one of the 



6 % The Earliest Colonial Houses 


15 7 


big fireplaces was being altered, a cavity was discovered in the masonry, 
and within a little pair of satin slippers, but there was no one to say to 
whom these had belonged. 1 

Further from Boston, in the same general direction, is Dedham, a 
suburb with wide streets, beautiful lawns, and fine old shade trees. Ded¬ 
ham claims to have the oldest frame house now standing in the United 
States. It well repays a visit. 

This, the Fayerbanks house, preserved by descendants of its builder, 
although the name is differently spelled now, is said to have been built 
in 1636, so it apparently antedates Dorchester’s relic by four years. It 
has never passed out of the family, and eight generations lived in it be¬ 
fore the descendants formed themselves into a corporation, which in¬ 
tends to see that the old house is kept in good repair, and that, barring 
accidents, it shall stand as long as its stout timbers endure. 

Not far from the road, surrounded by lawn, shaded by venerable 
trees, it is a rambling, low, shingled house, resembling three connected 
buildings, and that is what it really is. Of the eight windows on the 
front, no two are of the same size, and the same irregularity is noticeable 
in the clapboards, some being four, some twenty-one inches wide. 

The pleasant mannered caretaker, herself a descendant of the 
Fayerbankses, lives next door, and is always ready to show visitors over 
the old house, these paying a small fee towards its upkeep. One first 
enters the oldest part of all, with its high-pitched roof coming down to 
within a few feet of the ground. From a small entry, we pass into the 
old kitchen, with walls of overlapped white pine boards, now darkened 
by age. Here is a great chimney and open fireplace, in w*hich the old 
crane still hangs. Here, too, is the old brick oven, although no longer 
usable. The ceiling beams are all old ship timbers of English oak, 
chamfered. This room was never plastered, and although many years 
ago the overhead rafters were painted, time has now almost wholly 
removed the paint. 

On the other side of the entry is the parlor, to which after the first 
part of the house was built, an additional six feet of space was added. 

1 Some Colonial Homesteads , Marion Harland. 



158 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


The ceiling is barely six feet high, but this room has been plastered. 
Behind it, a leanto contains a former bedroom, and another long apart¬ 
ment, known as the milk room, with its own outside door. 

From the little front entry, stairs around the great chimney lead 
to two old bedrooms, and a ladder gives access to the attic over this 
oldest part. The timbers here are finely shaped, even ornamented, and 
are believed to justify the family claim that they were brought from 
England, as were the diamond shaped panes of glass set in leaden 
frames. 

The first Fayerbanks to come to America and settle, Jonathan, came 
from England in 1633, with a wife and six children, and after looking 
about, located in Dedham, then called Contentment. He brought with 
him timbers for the frame of a house, and these reposed for three years 
in Boston, while he was seeking a favorable site. A door has been cut 
downstairs in the old part of the house to admit to the eastern wing, be¬ 
lieved to have been built by Jonathan for his eldest son, John, on the 
latter’s marriage in 1641. The wing was then a separate house, with two 
rooms downstairs, one a small bedroom, and one upper room, reached 
by its own staircase. This part has been somewhat modernized, having 
been plastered and papered a hundred years ago. 

The western wing, built in 1654, connected with the main portion 
by a door, never had a chimney, and with its second story rooms reached 
by a third staircase, probably served as sleeping quarters for men hired 
to work on the large farm which once surrounded the old house. 

The last male Fairbanks to occupy the old homestead was Ebenezer, 
father of eight children, a member of the Congregational Church choir, 
and in some demand from singing schools of neighboring towns. He 
had five daughters, two of whom married, and when he died, the three 
unmarried sisters occupied the house, and took turns, a week at a time, 
doing the housework, but the local tale that each used her own stairway 
is laughed at now. The last of the sisters died in 1879, more than eighty- 
four years old, and a niece, Miss Rebecca Fairbanks, continued living in 
the old house until frightened by a severe thunderstorm, when a bolt 
of lightning passed through the room which she occupied at the time, 



6?^ The Earliest Colonial Houses ^5 


159 


and killed her dog. The next winter she removed to Boston, and for the 
first time in its history, the house was let to strangers. Miss Rebecca 
returned the following summer, and lived there until the Fairbanks 
Association was formed to buy and maintain the old place, the President 
of the Association being of the ninth generation of the Fairbanks family. 

The Association has collected by gift and purchase many interesting 
pieces of old furniture, cooking utensils, spinning wheels, etc., all of 
which merit closer attention than the average visitor gives. 

East of Dedham, in Quincy, formerly part of old Braintree Town¬ 
ship, is what is familiarly known as the w Dorothy Q.” house, pre¬ 
served and maintained by the Colonial Dames. 

Set well back from the road, in extensive grounds, shaded by fine 
trees, this is a beautiful old mansion. 

The first permanent settlement in Braintree was made in 1634, 
and the oldest part of this house was built in 1636, so it rivals as to age 
the Fairbanks house. The original portion into which the door now 
used by visitors opens, in the rear of the present house, consisted of 
a very large room on the ground floor, and two smaller rooms above, 
reached by a narrow staircase. The former was kitchen, living room, 
and meeting place for the neighbors. 

The old part was built by William Coddington, who came to 
Massachusetts in 1630, with the Governor and Charter. He was sev¬ 
eral times Assistant of the Colony, its Treasurer, and was spoken of 
by an early chronicler as “ munificent and upright.” This did not save 
him from trouble when he became a convert to what the Puritans 
styled the Antinomian heresy, due, it is said, to the reasonings of the 
remarkable Ann Hutchinson, “ a woman of great gift of speech and 
powers of mind.” She was later a fugitive, and settled in what is now 
Pelham, New York, where she and all but one of her children were 
shortly afterwards massacred by the Indians. 

In the year 1637-8, a warrant was issued for Coddington to leave 
the Colony, because he was a follower of Wheelwright, another of the 
Antinomians. Edmund Quincy, first of his name in America, bought 
the house from Coddington. His youngest son, Edmund, was born in 



160 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


it in 1681, a man of note, member of His Majesty’s Council, Justice 
of the Supreme Court of the Colonies, etc., but died and was buried in 
England. The second Edmund’s son, Edmund, married Dorothy, an¬ 
cestress of Oliver Wendell Holmes, and it is from Holmes’ poem, 
“ Dorothy Q.” that the house has taken its name. From the picture, 
photographs of which may be seen in the Hancock house, to which we 
shall come later, the poem would seem to describe the second Dorothy 
as well as her mother, with the “ high, square brow, from which the 
hair rolled back,” the “ compressed lips, tapering fingers and slender 
wrists.” 

The father of the future Mrs. Hancock lived like an English 
squire, had fourteen children by his first wife, and three by his second, 
so there was much difference in age between the oldest and the young¬ 
est. This explains how Dorothy Second’s oldest brother, Daniel, could 
be the grandfather of Abigail Adams, who was five years older than 
Dorothy herself. It was Dorothy’s father who enlarged the house, 
which was certainly necessary with seventeen children. 

Returning to the kitchen and living room, here are the great beams, 
wooden sheathed walls, and huge fireplace characteristic of the time 
when it was built. The fireplace may have been even larger than now, 
for a closet on the outer end is thought to have been made from the 
original. At the other side of the chimney, behind the old brick oven, 
is a secret passage which connected by an underground tunnel with the 
river. By means of a thirty-foot ladder, the attic could be reached as 
well. Close to the oven, a panel opens, revealing a long shaft, through 
which food might be passed up from the kitchen to those hidden in the 
attic. Very inconspicuous this panel, its existence would not be guessed. 

One may follow the secret passage in the wall by mounting the 
old stairs, but some small openings in the wooden sheathing are not, as 
might be fancied, air holes or for lighting it; they are merely knot 
holes, from which the knots long since dropped. 

That secret passage was often used. It not only constituted a refuge 
from marauding Indians, but it is said that the regicide judges of 
Charles I of England, whose movements will be noted in Connecticut, 




The Maynards , Waban , Mass. 

Design of the old paper in the dining room of the Dorothy Q. house, Quincy, 

Massachusetts. 



The Maynards , Waban, Mass. 


Design of old paper on the walls of the parlor, Dorothy Q. house, Quincy, Massachu¬ 
setts. This paper was imported from France, and placed on the walls in preparation for 
the marriage of Dorothy, daughter of the house, to John Hancock. But when the wed¬ 
ding occurred, it was not here, but in Fairfield, Connecticut, that the ceremony took 

place. 










The Maynards, Waban, Mass. 

The John Alden house, Duxburv, Massachusetts. 



The Maynards, Waban, Mass. 

The kitchen and huge fireplace in the John Alden house, Duxburv, Massachusetts. 







The Earliest Colonial Houses )S$5 


161 


also came from the Quincy River up through the tunnel, and were 
hidden in the attic. 

When Dorothy’s father enlarged the old house he made of it a 
mansion. A hall leads from the new front door back to the old kitchen, 
and on either side are large handsome rooms, finely paneled, and with 
plenty of old H and HL hinges on the doors. In the drawing room is 
a beautiful hand carved, shell top china cupboard, such as are found 
only in houses of distinction. The walls are still covered with paper 
brought from Alsace, and hung here in 1773, the first paper ever made 
in rolls, instead of the small sheets printed from blocks, as previously. 

Great preparations were made about this time to beautify the draw¬ 
ing room, for here the daughter of the house, Dorothy, was to be mar¬ 
ried to John Hancock. Since he was born in a house across the street, 
his father, the Reverend John Hancock, being minister of Braintree’s 
First Congregational Church, the young couple had probably known 
each other from early childhood. But John was an ardent patriot and 
a marked man, and when the wedding day drew near, it was not safe 
for him to be so close to Boston, even while his duties with the Con¬ 
vention in Philadelphia, of which he was President, called him away. 
Accordingly, Dorothy, duly chaperoned by her aunt, went to the home 
of “ Auntie Burr ” in Fairfield, Connecticut, where later they were 
married. She only returned to her old home as a visitor. 

In the drawing room, the present sufficiently large mantel swings 
back in a great door in the paneling to reveal the much larger original 
fireplace. A later addition to the house, separated only by an archway 
from the drawing room, is the music room, and behind this lies “ Tutor 
Flint’s study,” with a staircase winding to the tutor’s bedroom above. 
This has a recess for the bed, really an early example of a wall bed, 
and here, too, are fine strap and HL hinges. In the study is treasured 
the chair used by John Hancock, when he was inaugurated Governor 
of Massachusetts. 

Over the drawing room and dining room across the hall, are two 
large bedrooms added at the same time, one of which has an old powder 
closet. The whole house is filled with charming old furniture, china and 




162 Historic Houses of Early America 


ornaments of the period when it was built, collected by the Colonial 
Dames, gifts from many friends. 

In this house were entertained such distinguished guests as Benjamin 
Franklin, Sir Harry Vane, Judge Sewall, of witch trial notoriety, Sir 
Harry Frankland, beautiful Agnes Surriage, and many others. 

Like Edmund, Josiah is a Quincy family name, and they had a joke 
that the house “ descended from ’Siah to ’Siah.” One of the Josiahs 
was Mayor of Boston and President of Harvard College, and occupied 
the house on Park Street, Boston, already mentioned. 

Another old house in Quincy was built in 1730 by Leonard Vassall, 
Whose son, Henry, married a Royall, as will later be mentioned. The 
house was beautifully finished with panels of solid mahogany. Leonard 
had also a Boston home, now gone. John Adams bought this Quincy 
house when it was confiscated, after Leonard’s grandson, John Vas¬ 
sall, to whom it had descended, went to England at the outbreak of 
the Revolution. Both John Quincy Adams and Charles Francis Adams 
celebrated their golden weddings in this house j Brooks Adams, the 
latter’s youngest son, lived in it until his recent death (1927), when 
the Adams Kin Association was formed. This plans to buy and open it 
as a museum. 

In what is now called Quincy Adams, practically one town with 
Quincy, are two Adams houses, both open to visitors. The first, in 
which John Adams, second President of the United States was born, 
is believed to have been built in 1679, and then consisted of two rooms 
only, with a later leanto on the ground floor, and four small rooms 
with an attic above. Bricks for the chimney were brought from Eng¬ 
land, and there is one of the convenient secret passages to the attic con¬ 
necting with both front and back bedrooms. The house was later en¬ 
larged by John Adams, and some of the paper still on the walls is said 
to have been bought by him. Here is an organ used by his nephew, 
Henry, the tone still sweet, a few old pieces of furniture and other 
articles have been added, but the interior of the frame building is quite 
bare. 

The northside kitchen is part of the original house, with a great 



The Earliest Colonial Houses 


163 


fireplace which the future President is said to have closed when he 
made other alterations. In this room is preserved part of the trunk of 
a cedar tree, which stood on Merry Mount Hill at the time that Cap¬ 
tain Morton landed there in 1625, and until 1898, when it was blown 
down. 

Merry Mount was that settlement founded by Captain Wollaston, 
with thirty companions from England. Wollaston began building a 
house near this one of the Adamses. Later, he returned to England, 
but Thomas Morton remained, and the settlement doings and merry¬ 
makings scandalized the Puritans. The Mount is on the farm later 
owned by John Quincy Adams. 

Morton made friends with the Indians, but when he and his com¬ 
panions set up a Maypole, adorned with bucks’ horns, and drank and 
danced around it, the people of the Plymouth Colony were outraged. 
Morton told them that they were merely envious, but they finally set 
upon and captured him, intending to send him back to England. He 
escaped and returned to “ Mere-mount,” through the woods. Again 
he was attacked, and this time his enemies succeeded in shipping him 
back to England. In 1629, he returned, but two years later was again 
sent back, his house burned, his lands confiscated, by order of the 
General Court. 2 

John Adams fell in love with Abigail, daughter of the Reverend 
William Smith of Weymouth, and Dorothy Hancock’s greatniece, 
but the clergyman did not look at all favorably upon Adams as a son- 
in-law. He was a lawyer, and that seemed sufficient condemnation. The 
reverend gentleman even preached a sermon from the text: “ Mary 
hath chosen the better part,” in an attempt to convince his daughter, 
Abigail, of her folly. But that maiden merely requested her father to 
preach another sermon from a text of her own selection, namely: 
“ John came neither eating nor drinking, and ye say he hath a 
devil.” 

Abigail carried her point, married her John, destined to be dis¬ 
tinguished, while her sister Mary’s husband is chiefly known through 

2 History of Old Braintree and Quincy, William S. Pattee. 



164 Historic Houses of Early America 


his brother-in-law. The young couple went to live next door to Adams’ 
parents. 

This second house, built in 1716, was originally a mere tiny cottage 
on land granted by the Indians. It had one room serving as kitchen 
and living room, and a bedroom above. From the living room a door 
whose panel is made from a single great plank, still leads down 
cellar, but its curiously named “ corpse door ” has been boarded 
up. 

Later, probably as the law business prospered, a larger, better 
kitchen, with huge fireplace and oven, with a much better cellar below 
was added in the rear, a sitting room across from the little front entry, 
and two bedrooms above, while the old kitchen became Adams’ law 
office. In the larger of the two new bedrooms, on July 1 ith, 1767, John 
Quincy Adams was born. 

The laths in these two old houses are all hand made, and it may 
be interesting to learn that 300 constituted a day’s work, for which the 
workman received the equivalent of 62^ cents. 

In the enlarged cottage, Abigail and her husband lived until after 
the Revolution. Here she wrote memorable letters to him, and always 
she spoke of the “ humble cottage ” with affection. When he was sent 
to England to represent his country, she went very unwillingly, and 
when her son, John Quincy Adams, future sixth President, accom¬ 
panied his uncle as secretary to Russia, she admonished him not to let 
his head be turned by the glimpses of wealth and luxury he en¬ 
countered. 

Here she wrote in letters to her husband, breathing lofty patriot¬ 
ism: u Courage I know we have in abundance, conduct I hope we shall 
not want, but powder — where shall we get a sufficient supply? ” and 
again: “ I scarcely know the taste of biscuit or flour for these four 
months, yet thousands have been worse off, having no grain of any 
sort.” The Minute Men were soon melting pewter spoons, or any pew¬ 
ter articles that they could find, and John Quincy Adams alluded to 
seeing them running the dozen or two spoons owned By his parents 
into bullets in the kitchen. Many of the soldiers stopped at this hos- 



The Earliest Colonial Houses 165 


pitable house, and were fed and lodged wherever room could be made 
for them. 

The house was taken over in 1896 by the Quincy Historical So¬ 
ciety, and restored by them, since when it has been open to visitors. 

Hingham has a number of old dwellings, one of which, a garrison 
house, is said to date from 1640. Another built in 1680 is now the 
Wampatuck Club house. The home of Major General Benjamin Lin¬ 
coln, who received Lord Cornwallis’ sword at Yorktown stands, and so 
does the home of the Reverend Daniel Shute, built in 1746, but as these 
are occupied by the descendants of the two men, and private residences, 
visitors could hardly gain admittance. 

The home of Susan B. Willard was, however, left by her to the 
Hingham Historical Society, and this is shown. 

Daniel Webster’s home in Marshfield burned down nearly fifty 
years ago, although his garden study was spared. Between Marshfield 
and Green Harbor is the old Winslow house, on an excellent highroad. 
It is in fine condition, and maintained by the Historic Winslow House 
Association. An addition built to harmonize with the old part is leased 
as a tea room and restaurant, only the old kitchen of the original house 
being used for these purposes. This room was probably originally a 
shed, or'summer kitchen, and had wide outer doors through which a 
team of oxen bringing 'great logs for the fireplaces could be driven. The 
old well was close by, now under the tea room. 

Built in 1669, this is truly a mansion. Downstairs in addition to the 
room mentioned, are a winter kitchen, from which stairs descend to a 
dark cellar, paved with square bricks, probably brought from England; 
four worn stone steps lead to another, always cool cellar, and a third 
flight mounts to the rear of the second floor; a living or dining room, 
a bedroom, and a real drawing room, with beautiful plain wood pan¬ 
eling. The outer walls of the house are of wood, “clinked” with 
brick, then with an inner board lining on which the first papering was 
fastened directly. Later were added split laths and plaster, the paper 
applied to the latter, as nowadays, but there is preserved one bit of the 
old wall, with distinct traces of early paper. The winter kitchen had a 



166 Historic Houses of Early America 


splashed ceiling, dark stains applied to the timber, an evident attempt 
at decoration, like the spatter work floors in the old Bottle Hill Tavern 
in Madison, New Jersey, or the herringbone ceiling in the Buckman 
Tavern, Lexington, Massachusetts. 

In the winter kitchen, with its huge fireplace and oven, sixty-five 
pies are said to have constituted a day’s baking. Four different fire¬ 
places were removed when the house was being restored, before the 
original great one, with its rare rounded instead of right-angled cor¬ 
ners at the back, was finally discovered. 

The front door of the Winslow house has a double cross, one on 
the upper part, another on the lower. HL hinges have replaced older 
ones of the strap variety, judging from the marks in the solid old wood. 

From the front entry, a real Jacobean stairway ascends. Only the 
finials are modern, otherwise every bit of stairs and balustrade is as 
originally, and wooden pegs still hold it in place. This balustrade was 
doubtless brought from England, for certainly the houses of the pe¬ 
riod in this section which were built entirely in this country show 
nothing similar, but the continuation of stairway and balustrade from 
the second floor to the attic was made here at a much later period. 

In restoring this fine old house, it was found necessary in some of 
the rooms to remove thirty-four coats of paint. 

Above the sitting room is a large bedroom to which John Winslow 
brought his bride. It has a great fireplace, with wall cupboards on each 
side, the right hand one masking a secret passage in the back, which 
led both up to the attic, and down to the cellar. The passage was re¬ 
cently explored by small boys, who reported that there was plenty of 
room. Traces of the tunnel which it is believed once led from this 
passage in the cellar to the sea have thus far been sought in vain. The 
passage must have been useful, if it really existed, for this was a Tory 
household. 

Across the entry is another large bedroom above the drawing room, 
with a powdering closet opening out of it. The room was once used by 
Dr. Isaac Winslow as his office, the powdering closet as a store room 
for his drugs. It has some fine paneling added in 1760 by General 



The Earliest Colonial Houses 


167 


John Winslow, after he returned from Nova Scotia, where he had been 
sent to expel the Acadians. Here is carefully preserved one genuine 
Winslow chair j the rest of the furniture in the house has been collected 
from various sources. Three small back bedrooms upstairs, not now 
shown to visitors, complete the list of rooms. 

The home of John and Priscilla Alden stands close to the electric 
railway in Duxbury, in plain sight from it and from the highroad. 

John and Priscilla were married in 1623, but they came to this 
house, which was built for them by their third son, Jonathan, only 
after the first cabin home burned. Although not the original home 
that Alden built for his bride, the lines from the poem describe it al¬ 
most equally well: 

“ Solid, substantial, of timber rough-hewn, from the firs of the 
forest.” 8 

It has always been owned in the family, and at present, Mr. John 
Alden, of Hyde Park, Massachusetts, holds it on a twenty years’ lease. 

He is an enthusiastic collector of antiques, and has loaned many 
beautiful pieces of furniture, china, pewter, old ornaments, etc., which 
add greatly to the interior. A few original articles also remain, such as 
the old corded bed in which the first couple slept, and in which both 
John and Priscilla died. 

From the small front entry open two large rooms, the one at the 
right a fine apartment, in which many distinguished guests have 
been entertained. In the rear is an old kitchen, which at one period of 
its existence was plastered, but the plaster has now been torn off, show¬ 
ing the original rafters, the very broad planks of walls and floor. The 
large front room at the left opens into the small bedroom used by the 
first owners, and upstairs are six more, as well as an attic, in which 
wooden pegs still hold the roof in place. 

In the largest room downstairs may be seen an old trap door in the 
floor, and it is believed that through this people used to take refuge in 
the cellar beneath, at the approach of Indians. 

All of the walls are covered with reproductions of old papers} the 

9 Courtship of Myles Standish, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



168 Historic Houses of Early America 


old fireplaces remain, and a fine corner cupboard, while in one room 
may be admired a twenty-seven inch plank in the woodwork. Many 
butterfly, HL, hatchet and arrow hinges are on the doors, and upstairs, 
on a cupboard door in the largest room, is a rare rat-tail hinge. Among 
interesting articles are two “ Courting Mirrors.” A suitor would take 
one of these with him when calling upon the maiden whom he wished 
for his wife, and would lay it on the sitting room table. If the maiden 
picked up the mirror, this signified that she was willing to accept him} 
if she did not, there was nothing for the hapless lover but to pick up 
his mirror and depart. 

Kept open and cared for by the John Alden Kin Association, its 
members hold an annual meeting here on July 28th. 

Reached by shady roads, running between handsome estates, at 
South Duxbury is the Myles Standish house, down close to the water, 
and now a private summer cottage. It has four rooms downstairs, and 
the steep stairs dividing into two half as wide, branching flights, often 
found in old New England houses. Some of the old doors, big fire¬ 
places and cupboards beside them remain. The house is now quite off 
the beaten track, with no near neighbors. 

It, too, is the “ simple and primitive dwelling,” through whose 
rather small rooms “ strode with a martial air, Myles Standish, the 
Puritan Captain.” 4 

Here, after his wife, Rose, died, Standish thought to bring the fair 
Priscillaj from this house he dispatched John Alden, who loved her 
also, to court her, since he, Standish, believed himself too unskilled in 
wooing to win a young maiden, and to this house from Plymouth, 
“ not far off, though the woods are between,” 4 John returned with the 
news that he had failed to win the Captain a bride, but that Priscilla 
had admitted a liking for himself. 

From Duxbury, the next stop of interest will be Kingston. 

This town is two hundred years old. In 1726, it had but fifty 
houses, but none the less, it petitioned to be separated from Plymouth 
on the grounds that it was too far to go to meeting. Many of the inhab- 

* Courtship of Myles Standish, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



6$^ The Earliest Colonial Houses ^5 


169 


itants lived six or seven miles away from Plymouth’s meeting house, 
and this seems always to have been a weighty reason with the mother 
colony for allowing settlements to break away from her. 

Kingston was duly allowed to separate. The house of the first min¬ 
ister, Mr. Joseph Stacey, stood on the point between the modern Bos¬ 
ton and Bridgewater roads. The terraced garden and trench of the 
Sever house, an early one, are believed to have been made by Acadian 
refugees, who came to Kingston in 1755, the first being a French 
family, allowed to take shelter in the schoolhouse, and furthermore 
supplied with firewood. Others followed. In 1802, Kingston proved 
itself one of the pioneers in woman’s education, by appropriating $100 
for a girls’ school, one of the very first in New England. 

The first roads in this section were mere Indian trails and wading 
places across the streams. 

Governor Bradford’s house in Kingston was acquired in 1921 by 
the Jones River Village Club — the old name of the settlement was 
Jones River. It had been greatly modernized by recent tenants, plas¬ 
tered, painted, etc. The club had all of this modern paint and plaster, 
the modern spruce woodwork removed, disclosing the old rafters and 
planks. In one rear room had been dumped much of the wood that had 
been torn out to be replaced by new, so this and the fireplace frames 
have been restored. The house was built either in 1674 or 1675, for 
during King Philip’s War, when the Indians were burning and fight¬ 
ing, a runner came here from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to warn the settle¬ 
ment. The men took the women and children to the garrison house, 
located where now is Bay View Park, the railroad practically following 
the old highway. 

They then returned to their homes for food and clothing, and saw 
smoke arising, apparently from the Bradford house. On Abram’s Hill, 
stood a solitary Indian, who called out at sight of them: “ Chocwaug! ” 
(the white men are coming!) They fired, and the Indian fell, rolling 
down behind the hill. There were no signs of any other Indians, so the 
men went on to the Bradford house, and found that the Indians had 
poled two or three loads of hay against it, and set fire to it. But the 



i70 


6^ Historic Houses of Early America 


timbers were so green that they did not burn, merely charred, and it 
was the smoke from the hay which they had seen. (Fifty years ago, in 
repairing the old house some charred timbers were uncovered.) After 
extinguishing the fire, the men looked for the Indian whom they had 
shot at in the swamp of cedar and pine, at the foot of the hill, but 
although they found his traces and blood, they could not find the 
Indian, and finally gave up the hunt, concluding that his fellows had 
carried him off. 

After peace had been made between Indians and white settlers, an 
Indian came one day to the little settlement on Jones River, and re¬ 
called these incidents. Asked how he knew so much about them he 
explained that he was the Indian fired at, and showed the scars of 
serious wounds. He then told that he had lain hidden in the swamp 
under leaves, during all the time that they had been hunting for him, 
and that they had passed back and forth several times, almost stepping 
on him. After they had given up the search, his fellow Indians had 
returned, and carried him off. This could not have happened later than 
1676, thus the approximate age of the house is established. 

Governor Bradford’s manuscript history of the early days was 
willed by him to his eldest son, Major William Bradford. (The site 
of this son’s house is now marked by a tablet.) The Major left it to his 
son, John, and it was in the old Bradford house between the years 
1723-28, when it was loaned to Judge Sewall of Boston. Then came 
the Revolution, and the manuscript disappeared, together with Gov¬ 
ernor Bradford’s notebook, “ written with a blue pencil,” as had pre¬ 
viously been noted in referring to it. Manuscript and notebook seemed 
hopelessly lost. 

Late in the 18th century, a man discovered that a butcher in Hal¬ 
ifax was using paper from a notebook in which to wrap purchases, and 
furthermore, that there was writing in blue pencil on the pages. Inves¬ 
tigation showed that this was the actual Governor Bradford notebook, 
in which he kept copies of all the letters he wrote. Some three hundred 
pages were recovered. 

Still there was no trace of the manuscript history, until much later. 



The Earliest Colonial Houses 


171 


when an English author quoted from a history of the colonial days by 
Governor Bradford. More investigation and inquiries finally resulted 
in the information that this manuscript was in the library of the Bishop 
of London, and that dignitary refused to give it up. However, while 
a very popular American, Thomas F. Bayard, was our Ambassador at 
the Court of King James, aided by the representations of Senator 
George Frisbie Hoar, of Massachusetts, he prevailed upon the Bishop 
to send the manuscript back as a gift, and it is now in the Boston State 
House. 

The western end of the Bradford house is the oldest; the east end, 
a large front room downstairs, with hand hewn and planed wood, the 
marks of the plane still distinguishable beneath the paint on boards 
over the big fireplaces, and another room were added sometime be¬ 
tween 1720 and 1740. Here the Governor entertained a Catholic priest, 
and out of courtesy to his guest, served a meatless dinner on the Friday 
that the priest was under his roof. Furthermore, when Protestant serv¬ 
ices were being held in the house on Sunday morning, the Governor 
suggested to his guest that he would probably feel more at ease if 
strolling in the garden, while these services were in progress. 

Much later, when some Irish emigrants arrived in Kingston, they 
were quartered here, and again, when a place was needed to conduct 
the first Catholic mass ever said in Kingston, it happened to be empty. 
After no other place could be found in town whose owners would con¬ 
sent to mass being said there, General Joseph Sampson allowed it to 
be celebrated in the Bradford house. 

In this interesting survival of early colonial days are the very 
steep old stairs, with no trace of a handrail, and the last two or three 
steps dividing into two half as wide. How did small children ever 
come safely down such stairs? Here are also the great open fireplaces, 
the broad planks in the floors, massive rafters supporting the upper 
floor, and a few of the windows have reproductions of the original 
tiny leaded panes of glass. The newest room downstairs has the plain 
woodwork which, at the time of its building, was beginning to appear 
as a first decorative touch, instead of the merely necessary boards. 



172 Historic Houses of Early America 


Older than the Bradford, is the Willett house, in the northwestern 
end of the town. This was built in 1653, but is empty, owned by an old 
gentleman who lives nearby. Probably it will not long survive. 

The house occupied in Revolutionary days by Major General John 
Thomas is standing, a private residence. In what was once an old tav¬ 
ern is now located the telephone exchange, and still another, much 
modernized, is a private residence. 

Major General Thomas was born in Marshfield, in 1724, and 
moved to Kingston when very young. He served through the French 
and Indian wars, receiving his commission as Colonel, and assisted 
General Winslow in removing the unfortunate Acadians from their 
homes, then settled in Kingston, practising medicine and surgery, and 
taking an active part in town affairs. Immediately after the Battle of 
Bunker Hill, he was made a Brigadier General, one of the first eight 
appointed by Congress, and in less than a year, was promoted to Major 
General. 

Dorchester Heights was fortified under his direction, and he was 
chosen to head the rescue of the American Army in Canada. John 
Adams, writing to General Thomas of this appointment, declares that 
this is considered by some “ the most important post in America,” and 
John Hancock, in enclosing his commission to Thomas, wrote that a the 
Congress have been anxious to fix upon some general officer, whose 
military skill, courage and capacity will probably ensure success to the 
enterprise. In Major General Thomas they flatter themselves they will 
not be disappointed.” 

When Thomas reached Canada, he found the army in a serious 
condition, smallpox raging. He contracted the disease, and died at 
Chambly, twelve miles from Montreal. His son, John, became a 
colonel in the Revolutionary Army. 

Continuing south, at North Plymouth, on the left side of the road, 
is the William Cross house, white, square, two-storied, now a well-kept 
private residence, not open to the public, but with a placard to state its 
extreme age. The interior has been entirely made over, and only the 
outer walls and some of the staunch timbers of the old building re- 



6^ The Earliest Colonial xtlouses 


173 


main. In the Harlow house, Plymouth, is an old stone sink which was 
taken from this Cross house, and enthusiasts used to declare that “ it 
came over in the Mayflower.” As one skeptical New Englander re¬ 
marked: “ It is highly improbable that the Mayflower loaded up with 
such cumbrous cargo.” Doubtless an early colonist brought it over 
from Holland, for it was recognized as typical by a Hollander, who 
visited the Harlow house. 

In Plymouth, the Howland house, owned and kept up by the 
Howland Kin Association, is really the oldest now standing, but has at 
different times been so altered and modernized that it now has far 
more the appearance of a house built in the middle of the 18th cen¬ 
tury, than of 1666, when the original part was set up. It was then of 
the salt box type. From the front entry, good sized rooms open on 
either side, with a smaller room behind each, and there are big old fire¬ 
places. Steep stairs mount to the upper rooms, and in one of these, 
whose sole window affords a good view of the harbor, the floor beside 
it is visibly worn by the feet of anxious watchers for the return of ships 
on which were fathers, husbands or sons. 

In the attic may still be seen some of the wooden pegs holding the 
roof in place. 

The house is furnished throughout with antiques collected by the 
Association, and is open to visitors on payment of a small fee, through¬ 
out the summer. 

The Harlow house, second oldest in Plymouth, built in 1677, has 
been so restored to its original shape that it has the appearance of a 
far older house than the Howland. Plymouth is indeed fortunate in 
possessing three houses which picture three different periods of colonial 
life j the Harlow standing for the 17th century, in the latter part of 
which it was built, the Howland for 1750, the Antiquarian, represent¬ 
ing the period of its building, 1809. 

In the Harlow, may be seen some of the original wooden walls 
and timbers of the old fort used during the French and Indian wars by 
the settlers. The modern laths and plaster have now all been removed, 
and as soon as possible, the modern joists which now divide the two 



174 6 % Historic Houses of Early America 


large downstairs rooms will follow. It appears that the carpenter en¬ 
gaged to remove the modern additions could not believe that the 
owners really wanted everything of the kind taken out, so one day 
when he was not supervised, he carefully replaced the joists, evidently 
supposing that new laths and plaster were to be applied. He was 
stopped before he had added the laths, and the society only awaited 
funds to have the joists removed again. 

The room beyond the tiny entry, with its steep, unguarded stairs, 
here, too, dividing at the top, contains an enormous fireplace, the brick¬ 
work extending far out into the small room behind, thus furnishing 
a convenient shelf on which to stand milk pans, or put bread to rise in 
cold winter weather. In this house has been assembled a most inter¬ 
esting collection of furniture and utensils belonging to the daily life 
of its early existence. Here is the long-handled shovel, given every 
bride, to use in putting in or pulling out her bread and pies from the 
big Dutch oven. There are pots and pans, all kinds of cooking utensils, 
a loom on which rugs are still woven, appliances for winding and 
carding woolj a cradle, standing box for a little toddler, and small 
rocker for an older child; one of Tabitha Plaskett’s school benches, and 
a few pieces of table silver. One spoon, much worn on the edges, and 
so discolored that it hardly seems silver, was found in a wall when 
repairs were made. 

In the chimney here, as usual, a stick of green timber, called a 
“ Trammel stick,” or long pole, was fastened across in the upper part 
to hold pots and kettles. Of course in time the pole charred through, 
and sometimes did more, for charred timbers in the wall near this fire¬ 
place show that there was danger that the house itself might take fire. 
Nor did the timber always fall without serious injury. 

In Old Times in New England, published by the Association for 
the Preservation of New England Antiquities, an extract from the 
Boston News Letter , for Nov. 25th, 1742 is reprinted: 

“We hear from Leicester that on a Wednesday Evening last 
Week, a very sad Accident happened in the Family of Capt. Daniel 
Denney, viz: A large Kettle of boiling Water (or Wort) being over 



The Earliest Colonial Houses 


175 


the fire, and the Trammel stick happening to be burnt the Kettle fell 
down, and spilt the Liquor upon four Children who sat or lay upon the 
hearth, (some of whom were asleep) which scalded them in so terrible 
a manner that one died presently after, and another’s Life is despaired 
of.” 

The Tabitha Plaskett house, built in 1722, is now an antique shop 
and tea room. Tabitha is described as “ the first schoolmistress in New 
England,” but a present day Plymouthian indignantly denied that 
this could be true, demanding to know whether anyone believed that 
New England children went untaught from 1620 for more than a 
century, or until the days of Tabitha. She added that a certain clergy¬ 
man of the early days was known to have taught some children. Still 
he was not primarily a school teacher. 

At all events, Tabitha taught in Plymouth at an early date. She 
used to spin and wind wool as she heard her pupils’ lessons, and if a 
child was naughty, or did not pay as close attention as she thought 
proper, Tabitha would throw one of her skeins of yarn around his or 
her shoulders, and hang the culprit up therewith to a peg in the wall. 

The first dinner given by the Plymouth Old Colony Club, in honor 
of the landing of the Pilgrims, was on December 22, 1769, at 2.30 p.m. 
The menu comprised: 

“ A large baked Indian whortleberry pudding,” served first of 
all. 

« A dish of sauquetash,” (this not the dish made of corn, beans 
and a bit of salt pork with which we are acquainted, but containing be¬ 
sides corned beef, potatoes and turnips, a meal in itself.) 

M A dish of clams 
“ A dish of oysters 
“ A dish of codfish 
“ A haunch of venison 
a A dish of sea fowl 
u A dish of frost fish and eels 

« An apple pie, a course of cranberry tarts and cheese.” * 

8 Reminiscences of an Antiquarian, William T. Davis. 



176 Historic Houses of Early America 


Winifred Cockshott, in her History of the Pilgrim Fathers^ tells 
that in 1641, a pair of red silk stockings attracted much attention on 
the streets of Plymouth until it was learned that they were stolen from 
Boston. 

The so-called Antiquarian House, maintained by Plymouth’s His¬ 
torical Association, as is the Harlow House, is a fine mansion, now 
painted in colonial buff and white. It originally stood on Main Street, 
on part of a tract granted in 1623 to Edward Winslow, Francis Eaton 
and Captain Myles Standish. Threatened with demolition, when its site 
was required for the new Court House, the women of the town busied 
themselves, and finally money for its purchase and removal to a nearby 
site was raised. 

The beautiful entrance hall, with drawing room and keeping room 
are all octagonal. A fine broad staircase leads upstairs, and in the rear 
is a long, three-storied ell, in which, on the first floor are the dining 
room, kitchen, pantries, etc. A back stairway leads to all three floors, 
or they may be reached from the front by going up and down various 
short flights, passing through several rooms. 

The house was built by and for Major Hammett, who had two 
daughters and two nieces, all four of whom were married about the 
same time. For the four young couples he gave a grand reception in the 
house. Downstairs, opening off a passage from the main hall and un¬ 
derneath the stairs, is a large closet, apparently once a pantry, for a slide 
opens from it into the rear hall. An architect who examined the house 
carefully declared that the kitchen was a separate building in the rear, 
and one of the members of the Historical Society says that her grand¬ 
father built on the ell. Yet the kitchen looks old, so possibly the more 
modern looking brick portion of the ell was built to connect kitchen 
and house. If an outside kitchen seems odd for New England, one is 
assured that here, too, several of the early occupants were slave owners, 
which may explain it. 

The mansion is filled with beautiful things; with Chippendale and 
Phyfe furniture, rare old china, one of the first grand pianos ever 
manufactured in this country, a fine old secretary or writing desk, with 




Courtesy of the Metropolitan News Co. 


The Myles Standish house at Duxbury, Massachusetts. Standing practically as when 
built, this is now a private summer cottage, quite removed from the highroad. 



Courtesy of the Quincy Historical Society 


The south room in the John and Abigail Adams Cottage, at Quincy, Massachusetts. 
When John Adams prospered, this became his law office, and he built on an addition 

of several rooms for family use. 


W 















The old Fairbanks house, Dedham, Massachusetts (built 1636). This, in reality con¬ 
sisting of three houses joined, is one of the very oldest frame houses in the United 
States. It is now maintained by the Fairbanks Kin Association. 


Photo by Stiff, Provincetcvm, Mass. 

The “ Hooked Rug ” house, called the oldest in Provincetown. Once the home of Seth 
Nickerson, who left it to go to the Revolutionary Army, it is at least 150 years old, 
and if not the very oldest, as claimed, is one of the two or three oldest of the old 

Cape town. 























6 ?^ The Earliest Colonial Houses 


177 


ingeniously hidden secret compartments, portraits of some of the 
early owners, etc. 

Leyden Street is the first street in Plymouth laid out by the Pil¬ 
grims, and near its foot a tablet placed on a house marks the site of 
the very first building. A house stood at least recently on Sandwich 
Street, some of its timbers having come from the old fort on Burial 
Hill at the close of King Philip’s War, and there are a number of 
other survivors, including the John and Edward Winslow houses, but 
so modernized as hardly to be recognized as old. 

Down on Cape Cod one will find many old houses. Barnstable, 
the county seat, which disputes with Sandwich the distinction of being 
the first town on the Cape, is quaint and pretty, with a broad, shady 
main street, the Cape highroad. Here is the public library, which was 
the “ new house ” of John Lothrop, Barnstable’s first clergyman to 
have a church. His predecessor had preached from the top of a large 
boulder on a hill nearby, which boulder, broken up, built the county 
jail. 

Mr. Lothrop came here from Scituate about 1639, having spent 
his first five years in this country in that settlement, and five years 
later, built his “ new house.” The original part is the left hand side, 
strong, substantial; although with modern windows, the big old fire¬ 
place remains. The other side of the house, later but still old, is the 
library proper, and the building was left to the town by the Sturgis 
family, which had several times intermarried with the descendants of 
the Reverend John. Barnstable was served by Captain Myles Standish, 
he having been one of a commission appointed to establish the bound¬ 
ary line between that town and Yarmouth. 

At North Truro, much further down the Cape, is Highland Light, 
one of the oldest and most powerful lights on the coast. For more than 
a century, the Government has owned this tract of land, now dimin¬ 
ished by the action of the sea, and the fierce storms common here, from 
the original ten acres to but five. 

The lighthouse keeper has been a member of the same family for 
all these years, and he has also conducted a hotel business here, from 



178 Historic Houses of Early America 


the time when he merely lodged and fed such travelers as passed, to 
the present day, with a larger building supplementing the first hotel, 
now an annex. The old farmhouse still stands, and in 1926 was given 
a new lease of life, re-shingled and generally repaired. It is a low, 
solidly built house, covered with unpainted shingles. 

Chatham has a house which is believed to have been built about 
1752, and recently a campaign for funds with which to buy and pre¬ 
serve it was inaugurated by the Chatham Historical Society. They 
will use it for meeting rooms and also as a museum. 

The library at Hyannis is housed in a quaint little low house, de¬ 
cidedly old, and with a half story reached by ladder-like stairs. 

Provincetown, beloved of artists, is well known, but some of the 
history of the old whaling town may be less familiar. 

Every motorist has cause to remember its very narrow, winding 
main street, formerly always known as Front Street, while the other 
parallel one was Back Street. Now they are known as Commercial and 
Bradford, but are no wider than in the old days. Provincetown^ 
other streets hardly count, as they are mere lanes, connecting these 
two. 

Until 1830, Provincetown had no actual street, the Bay was its 
chief thoroughfare, on which residents rowed “ up along ” or “ down 
along ” to do their shopping, or pay visits. If not rowing, they walked 
on the sands. But when, in 1830, Provincetown was granted quite a 
sum of money by Congress, as her share of damages sustained in the 
War of 1812 by shipping, the enterprising young men proposed to 
lay out a sixty foot wide street where is now Commercial Street, thus 
insuring ample roadway and sidewalks on both sides. The older men 
objected violently. They and their forefathers had always walked on 
the sands, and what had been good enough for them was good enough 
for the younger generation. But the younger generation persisted, and 
as a compromise, a twenty-five foot wide street was laid out. Now it 
would be difficult indeed to widen it, involving, as it would, the re¬ 
moval or tearing down of half of the houses and buildings along the 
entire length of the town. 



6^ The Earliest Colonial Houses ^5 


179 


Many droll stories are told of Provincetown’s early settlers. The 
soil here was very poor, so when her captains sailed to distant ports, 
with their cargoes of fish, whale oil, etc., they usually brought back 
earth as ballast, knowing well that if they did not want it themselves 
for a garden, there would be neighbors only too glad to have it. Al¬ 
most all of the Provincetown gardens are due to imported soil, even 
as many of her old trees were imported. 

A certain captain returned from one trip with a load of rich earth, 
which he hastened to spread on his garden plot, congratulating him¬ 
self on the fine garden that he would have. But he had not reckoned 
with the Cape Cod gales. One morning he awoke to find that his rich 
earth had all been blown over on his next door neighbor’s garden. He 
went and demanded it back. The neighbor refused to give it. Much 
arguing and quarreling followed, and finally the matter was taken to 
the Court. The learned judge decided that undoubtedly the soil be¬ 
longed to the man who had brought it from overseas, but even as the 
captain was triumphing, the judge added: 

“ But if you go over on your neighbor’s land to remove it, you 
will be liable for trespassing.” 

The captain ruefully digested this opinion, and then remarked 
that there seemed nothing for him to do but wait for a wind from the 
opposite direction to blow the soil back again, and begged the judge 
to enjoin the neighbor from planting anything to hold the soil down. 
The story neglects to say whether the judge granted this injunction or 
not. 

Many of the oldest houses here were originally located on the 
actual point of the Cape, where now stands the lighthouse. The storms 
were so severe, however, that eventually the houses were towed across 
the bay to the present sites in town. 

Provincetown natives think little of such removals. Nor, during 
the War of 1812, did the British frigates in the bay long keep the 
Provincetown fishermen penned. Since they could not sail out into 
the bay, and around the Cape to New York, to exchange their fish for 
much needed supplies, they sailed close to the shore down to Sandwich, 




i8o Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


and there carted their boats across the Cape to Buzzards Bay, thence, 
by alert manoeuvering, they sailed to New York. 

A house more than a hundred years old perches on the top of a 
hill in Provincetown, and is still owned by the family that built it. A 
daughter of the house married Thomas Lothrop, a descendant of the 
Barnstable clergyman, and the husband came to live in his wife’s town. 
What followed is typical of Cape Cod. 

The business of Provincetown was fishing; her captains sailed to 
many ports, but there had never been a wharf. Mr. Lothrop proposed 
building one, but received no encouragement from his fellow towns¬ 
men. Quite the contrary. No wharf could be built, they assured him, 
or if it were built, it would be washed away by the storms of the very 
next winter. But Mr. Lothrop persisted, built his wharf, and it lasted 
through many winters. After this, others followed his example. Mr. 
Lothrop also is said to have organized the first Masonic Lodge in 
Provincetown. 

What is now known as the Hooked Rug Shop is said to be the oldest 
house in town, but its exact age is unknown. It is known, however, that 
from it Seth Nickerson, the owner, left to join the Continental Army. 
In addition to its display of rugs, it houses a collection of old ship 
models, including the one commanded by Captain Samuel Samuels, 
who claimed that he sailed from Sandy Hook to Queenstown in nine 
days and some hours. 

Another old house nearby shows the original style and position of 
Provincetown dwellings, for it faces the beach, which early residents 
used as street. The ell on the present street is more modern than the 
main part, which is known to be at least one hundred and thirty years 
old. 

As early as 1641, the Cape towns of Sandwich, Yarmouth, Barn¬ 
stable, Seekonk and Nauset, the mainland towns of Scituate, Taunton 
and Duxbury were in existence. 






VIII 


e¥ The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters ^3 


A trip either by train or motor in a northerly direction from Boston 
will take one to a number of interesting old houses, some of which are 
open to visitors. 

The Craigie, more generally known as the Longfellow house, is 
familiar at least by picture to many who have never been in Cambridge. 
It is open as a museum. 

The handsome old mansion was built by John Vassall, in 1760, and 
was then surrounded by a park of one hundred and fifty acres. This 
family were almost universally strong Loyalists, which is odd when 
their history is studied. The first John Vassall of whom there is 
mention was an alderman in London, England, and in 1588, he 
fitted out two ships, and joined the Royal Navy in the expedition 
against the Spanish Armada. His sons, Samuel and William, were 
both original patentees of lands in the Massachusetts Colony, and al¬ 
though Samuel never came to this country, he has a monument in 
King’s Chapel, Boston, which proclaims that he was “the first who 
boldly refused to submit to tax tonnage and poundage imposed by 
the crown.” He was imprisoned and his goods seized because of this 
protest, and Cromwell’s Parliament voted him more than £10,000 
damages. 

Vassall seems to have received but little of this sum, for in 1657 
he (or his heirs) claimed that more than £3,000 were due for “ service 
of one ship,” and another, the Mayflower, had, “when laden and 
manned, been taken and made use of against the enemy.” One would 



182 Historic Houses of Early America 


not expect to find this man on the side of the Crown, and probably had 
he come to the colonies, he would not have been. 

His brother, William, was the first to come. With his wife and 
six children, he set sail in 1635, and first settling at Roxbury, he later 
removed to Scituate. In 1646, he returned to England in aid of a peti¬ 
tion for redress of wrongs. No blind Loyalist this man. He never re¬ 
turned to Massachusetts, but went to Barbados, and died there. 

His son, John, lived in Jamaica, but the latter’s son, Major Leon¬ 
ard Vassall, born on that island in 1678, removed to Boston before 
1723. He brought with him a wife and some of their sixteen children, 
and when the wife died, married in New England, and had another 
daughter. 

Major Leonard attended Christ Church, Boston, built the year he 
settled in that city, and was one of its wardens. In 1727, he bought an 
estate on Sumner Street. He also built the house in Quincy. 

Of the Major’s numerous children, four sons are of interest. Lewis, 
who settled in Braintree, where he bought two houses with lands, and 
like his father, was church warden. Colonel John, who settled in 
Cambridge, where his son, John, probably built the Craigie or Long¬ 
fellow house} William, who also lived in Cambridge, purchased an 
estate in Bristol, Rhode Island, and in 1744 bought a house and lands 
on Queen Street, Boston, long since replaced by modern buildings. 

William was the most prominent of the family, and was warmly 
praised by Adams, who found no fault with him except for his “ ex¬ 
cessive garrulity.” His estates were all confiscated during the Revolu¬ 
tion. 

The fourth brother was Henry, who married Penelope Royall. 
He is said to have bought the Cambridge house from his brother 
John, but if so, it was a house built before the one now standing. Ap¬ 
parently Henry’s nephew, John, purchased his father’s place back from 
his uncle, and in 1760 built w a splendid mansion,” probably the present 
one. Henry married an Oliver, of the same family as the last royal 
governor, Thomas Oliver, who married Elizabeth Vassall, sister of 
the four brothers. 




Photo by Burr A. Church 

The old kitchen, Hancock-Clark house, Lexington, Massachusetts. In this, part of 
the oldest portion oi the building, has been assembled a most interesting collection of 

colonial articles and furniture. 





















The beautiful staircase of the Royall house, Medford, Massachusetts. The stair-rail, in 
eluding that topping the newel post, is cut from a single tree. 
































The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters 183 


This family history has been given at such length because it is in¬ 
teresting that all of the Vassalls alive during the Revolution should 
be ardent Loyalists, when they descended from men who had not sub¬ 
mitted tamely to authority. Almost all, if not all of the Vassalls re¬ 
turned to England shortly before or during the Revolution, and the 
family accordingly disappears from this side of the Atlantic. 

The Longfellow house was confiscated from the Vassall owning it 
in 1778, but three years earlier, an American regiment had camped 
in the park. 

From July, 1775, to April, 1776, the house was used by Washing¬ 
ton as headquarters, and courts-martial and war conferences were held 
within its walls. It is told that the room on the second floor, later used 
by Longfellow as his study, was the scene of these meetings. 

On August 3, 1775, General Sullivan wrote to the New Hamp¬ 
shire Committee of Safety, after one of the councils of war held in 
this house: 

“ To our great surprise, we discovered that we had not powder 
enough to furnish half a pound a man, exclusive of what the people 
have in their homes. The General was so struck that he did not utter 
a word for half an hour.” 

It needs little imagination to guess at the General’s thoughts dur¬ 
ing that silent half hour. 

After Andrew Craigie and his descendants occupied the house, it 
was purchased by Longfellow in 1843, an ^ here he spent the rest of 
his life. Here the tragedy of his wife’s death occurred, when she was 
burned so severely that she died. The house is now filled with the 
poet’s belongings. 

A big square building, with a classic portico, pillars supporting a 
pediment, topped by a fanlight, it is too familiar to require descrip¬ 
tion. 

Another famous old Cambridge house, still a private residence, 
was built in 1767 by Thomas Oliver, the Governor. To this house 
came several thousand men, during the troublous days immediately 
preceding the Revolution, and ordered the Governor to resign. He 



184 $$ Historic Houses of Early America 


wrote: u My house in Cambridge being surrounded by about 4,000 
men, I sign my name, Thomas Oliver.” He and his wife went to Eng¬ 
land. 

Burgoyne made his headquarters here for a time. Later, it was 
used by the Continental Army as a hospital, and then the Government 
sold it at auction. Arthur Cabot bought it, and it was later owned by 
Governor Gerry. Then the Reverend Charles Lowell lived in it, and 
here James Russell Lowell was born in 1819, and lived for many 
years. 

From Cambridge, following the route taken by Paul Revere for 
his ride — the present motor road at least approximates the old country 
road — one soon comes to houses in Lexington suggestive of the past, 
even although they are surrounded by modern buildings. 

Lexington is proud of her patriots, and a number of houses once 
occupied by Minute Men bear tablets, stating the name of the occu¬ 
pant on the day when these men assembled. One of these tablets is 
attached to a house next door to the historic Munro Tavern, which 
played a prominent part in the history of that April day long ago. 
The Reverend Thomas Parker, when making an address in 1851, in 
Lexington, spoke of: “ a tall man, with a large forehead, under a three 
corner hat, who drew up his company of seventy men on the Green. 
Only one is left now, the boy who piped the men to the spot.” This 
boy was Jonathan Harrington, the fifer, who, last survivor of the 
Americans engaged in the Battle of Lexington, lived in this house. It 
is still a private residence. 

Further along, facing the ancient Green, a square white house bears 
another tablet, proclaiming that it was the home of Marrett and 
Nathan Munroe in 1774. The Munroe family as well as the tavern 
figured prominently in the history of the battle, for of the seventy- 
seven Minute Men who participated, sixteen bore the name of Munro, 
as it was then written. 

Walking around the beautiful old Green, with its ancient trees, 
one comes to another house with affixed tablet. This was on the memor¬ 
able day the home of another Jonathan Harrington, older than the 



6^ The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters ^5 185 


boy fifer. A magnificent elm planted by this man’s father is still stand¬ 
ing in Lexington. 

To the door of this house Jonathan Harrington dragged himself, 
after doing his part with the others, and died at his wife’s feet. This 
house is also a private residence, but through the courtesy of its owner, 
the writer was shown the lower floor. 

Changes and renovations have been made j the old fireplace in the 
dining room has been covered with white paneling, harmonizing with 
the period of building} extra windows have been cut, and contain 
modern plate glass, doorways have been broadened, but something of 
the old remains. In the beautiful drawing room, probably originally 
two rooms, the old fireplace and wall cupboard survive. Outwardly 
there is little change. 

Continuing on Hancock Street, a few minutes’ walk brings one to 
the interesting Hancock-Clark house, now owned and preserved by 
the Lexington Historical Society. It is not on the original site, for it 
stood across the street, threatened with demolition when the Society 
bought it. When moved, it was turned, so that the door at the side 
by which visitors enter is really the “ new ” front door, built when 
other additions were made to the original house. It has also been placed 
on new strong foundations, a cellar dug beneath, so that it not only 
rests firmly, but is kept from dampness, and the installing of a heating 
plant made possible. 

A two-story and attic building, now painted brown, the original 
floors remain throughout save in the kitchen, where a new one was 
needed. 

Entering a small hall from which stairs ascend with a landing, at 
the right one passes into the sitting room and from it into the kitchen, 
one of the two original apartments on the first floor, and with a great 
fireplace and cupboards. Opening from this is a small room which 
was used by the Reverend John Hancock as a study and probably also 
as bedroom, for the first house had but two small attic chambers, 
reached by a steep and now worn staircase from the kitchen. 

The Reverend John lived here from 1697 to 1752. In one of the 




186 Historic Houses of Early America 

small low chambers upstairs, his son, John, was born, who, like his 
father, became a minister, and settled in what is now Quincy. John, 
son of the second Reverend John, was the first American Governor of 
Massachusetts. Another son of the first minister, Thomas, became one 
of Boston’s wealthiest merchants, and enlarged the old house, adding 
in 1734 two fine large rooms on both floors, and the “ new ” door, 
entry and staircase. One of these rooms has a large fireplace framed 
in old tiles, given by an interested citizen from his own house,, when 
the Hancock house was repaired, to replace those once set here. The 
room has the original white pine window shutters, very light and thin, 
with molding on the panels, now dark with age and polishing. 

The other added room across the hall is charming. Large and 
square, with a great fireplace set in a wall paneled from floor to ceiling 
in native white pine, now the color of old English oak, the wood is 
kept beautifully polished by the caretaker, who worked hard to restore 
it after years of neglect. A fine four-post bedstead and some old fur¬ 
niture are here, although not the original pieces which stood in this 
best chamber on the night that Samuel Adams and John Hancock 
slept here, with a bounty on their heads placed by the British, and when 
Paul Revere rode through the town. It had not been thought safe 
for the two bold patriots to remain in Boston, so they had come to 
Hancock’s grandfather’s old house, then occupied by the Reverend 
Jonas Clark, husband of a cousin of Hancock’s father. Clark was the 
parish minister, and as such lived here until 1805. 

Upstairs, in the fine large bedroom over this best room or state 
parlor, on this memorable night, John Hancock’s wife, Dorothy, and 
Mrs. Thomas Hancock, wife of the wealthy Boston merchant, were 
sleeping. 

The story goes that when Revere rode up, and begin knocking, a 
member of the family, disturbed from sleep, requested that the noise 
cease. 

“ Noise! ” Revere is said to have cried, u You’ll have noise enough 
before long. The Regulars are coming, and almost here.” 

The other upper room served the Reverend Jonas as his study and 




The wonderful old Royal 1 Mansion, Medford, Massachusetts. From this home, Isaac 
Royal 1 the Second left one Sunday morning to attend service at King's Chapel, Boston. 
He never returned here, hut, unwilling to cast his lot w’ith the patriots, sailed for Nova 

Scotia, and then for England, where he died. 













The oM Slave Quarters of the Royall house, Medford, Massachusetts. Here were 
housed the twenty-seven slaves whom Isaac Royall the First, their owner, brought with 
him from Antigua, West Indies, where he made his fortune. 







6?^ The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters ^§5 187 


probably bedroom as well. In the four new rooms were entertained 
many distinguished guests from time to time; Presidents of Harvard 
University, Governors of Massachusetts and other states passed up the 
broad new stairs, with their hand carved bannisters. Here are several 
Christian doors, so efficacious for keeping away evil spirits, and the 
original front door, now opening into the old kitchen, has twelve panels, 
something quite unusual. 

Portraits of the Hancocks and Clarks hang on the walls of the old 
house, and a photograph of the portrait of Dorothy and John Han¬ 
cock, their two children, neither of whom lived to grow up, and one of 
Dorothy’s sisters, the original being owned elsewhere. Hancock is ex¬ 
tremely handsome as shown here, with a gentle expression, while his 
wife is beautiful, but with a stern, repressed beauty, although from all 
accounts she could be merry enough. This is quite the Dorothy de¬ 
scribed by the poet, even if he was actually writin’g of her mother. 
Here are the: 

“ — womanly air; 

“ Smooth, square forehead, with uprolled hair 
“ Taper fingers and slender wrist — 

“ Dorothy Q. was a lady born, 

“ Ay, since the galloping Normans came 
“ England’s annals have known her name} 
u And still to the three-hilled rebel town 
u Dear is that ancient name’s renown, 

“ For many a civic wreath they won, 

“ The youthful sire and the gray-haired son.” 

This second Dorothy Hancock was the daughter of Judge Edmund 
of the Quincy house, niece of Josiah, “ young patriot and orator,” who 
died just before the American Revolution, of which he was one of the 
most eloquent and effective promoters. His son, Josiah, first Mayor of 
Boston, lived to a great age, and was “ one of the most useful and 
honored citizens of his time.” 

The Historical Society has built a fireproof room on the Hancock 
house, to guard some of its most precious relics, such as: the drum used 



188 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


to assemble the patriots of Lexington j the tongue of the bell which 
rang from Lexington’s belfry that day — the old belfry has been re¬ 
placed by a replica — interesting old documents, etc. 

Concord was settled by a little group of families who came from 
England in 1635, with this spot as their definite goal, the tract of land 
“ hereafter to be called Concord,” having already been granted them. 

There is a local tradition that the settlement was spared, during 
King Philip’s War, from much of the destruction wreaked upon other 
Massachusetts settlements because the Concord minister had the reputa¬ 
tion with the Indians of having decided influence with the “ Great 
Spirit.” The chief is said to have observed of this clergyman: u He 
great pray.” 

Revere did not himself ride to Concord. On the way he and William 
Dawes, who had met in Lexington, and started together for Concord, 
were overtaken by Dr. Samuel Prescott, returning from a visit to his 
fiancee. The three were stopped by British outposts sent to intercept 
them, but Prescott escaped by jumping his horse over a wall, and car¬ 
ried on the news. 

In Concord are many old houses, although some of those which 
attract most attention from visitors are connected with more recent days 
and people. Among these latter, for instance, is Orchard House, where 
Louisa M. Alcott wrote her Little Women , and the earlier Alcott 
residence, Hillside, which Hawthorne, after living in a rented house, 
bought in a dilapidated condition, repaired, and named it Wayside 
House. He added the tower to serve as his study, and it is said that the 
only means of access was a ladder, which he pulled up after him, thus 
insuring privacy. The little narrow staircase on which the Alcott children 
played “ Pilgrim’s Progress ” still remains. 

The Old Manse, to which, in 1842, Hawthorne brought his bride, 
was built in 1765 for the Reverend William Emerson, grandfather of 
the noted author. It is told that, after Prescott brought the news of the 
British advance, and the gun and belfry sounded the alarm, the clergy¬ 
man was the first man to respond, appearing in the bright moonlight 
which preceded the dawn of that momentous day. 



6?^ The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters ^§5 189 


He did not leave the ranks until they marched past his house later, 
when he dropped out to remain and protect his wife and baby girl. To¬ 
gether the three watched the fighting from an upper window. In this 
gloomy looking dwelling Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his first great 
book, Nature. A placard at the gate announces that the house is not 
open to visitors. 

Almost opposite the Old Manse is a low house, with the quaint 
“ side chamber ” windows on the second floor. In 1775, this was the 
home of Elisha Jones, and in the cellar on the morning of April 19th, 
had been stored much of the patriots’ ammunition. Jones hid his wife 
and children there, and then stood guard over all while the British 
searched in vain for much of the stored goods. When he heard the 
firing, Jones could not remain in the cellar, but ran upstairs, and was 
only restrained by his wife’s entreaties from firing on the fleeing British. 
One of them paused long enough to take aim at Elisha, and the bullet 
pierced the wall near a first story window in the ell, missing Jones by 
three feet. The spot is marked. 

Visitors must not expect to be admitted to these historical homes 
merely on request, no matter how politely worded, but if they come 
provided with letters of introduction, they will find their owners cordial 
and obliging. 

The large, square white house at the corner of the Lexington and 
Concord roads, in which Emerson lived from 1835 until his death, is al¬ 
ways known as the Emerson house. After his death, his daughter, Miss 
Ellen, lived there until she too passed on. She was a firm believer in 
village life, and disliked to see Concord divide into different social 
strata, so she was accustomed to invite different sections of the town 
in turn to her house, for a lawn party. Everyone in the section chosen 
would be invited} young and old, rich and poor. After a social period, 
they would be regaled with strawberries, biscuits, cocoa and cookies. 

She also formed a group of young high school girls to meet once a 
week at her home, there to hear read aloud such books as her father 
had considered profitable for the young. Very dull the modern girls 
found these books, but it speaks well for their deference to Miss Ellen 



I 9 ° Historic Houses of Early America 


that none the less, they went to the house. Sometimes after reading 
aloud for some time, Miss Ellen would hand the book to one of the 
girls, and excusing herself, would cross the hall to the parlor, where 
stretched on the hard horsehair covered sofa, she would take a ten 
minute napj then, returning, would resume the reading. Occasionally, 
as a great honor, the group was invited to stay to tea, which meal in¬ 
cluded cocoa, biscuits and fruit. 

Emerson’s study, with two walls lined to the ceiling with shelves, 
containing all kinds of books, is just as during his lifetime, and so is 
the sitting room in the rear, opening on the garden. 

A curious story was told by a lady who rented this house furnished 
one summer. She and her daughter selected a large bedroom on the 
second floor for their own. On the first night, they were awakened by 
something which sounded like a pistol shot, and seemed to come from 
the old secretary which stood at the head of the bed. In the morning 
they examined this secretary, but could find nothing to explain the 
sound, nor was there anything in the drawers or pigeonholes. 

The same thing happened for several nights, and then they changed 
their room. Meanwhile, several neighbors had called, and all asked, 
with apparent interest: “ In which room do you sleep? ” 

The new occupants thought this strange, but gave no particulars. 
Other members of the family arrived, and to these the story was told. 
Inclined at first to ridicule it, they had the same experience when oc¬ 
cupying that room. Then came a young man friend to spend the week 
end. Telling him nothing of their experiences, he was given the room. 
When he came down to breakfast the next morning, almost his first 
words were: 

“ What’s the matter with that room, and the old secretary? I could 
not sleep for the noise, like a pistol shot.” 

They decided to use the room no more. There were no odd sounds 
elsewhere in the house. Finally they learned from one of the neighbors 
that in that room Emerson died. The lady who told this story added: 

“ I am used to old furniture, and the sounds it sometimes makes but 
this was not in the least like those.” 



The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters i 9i 


The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution 
is suitably installed in one of Concord’s oldest houses, on Monu¬ 
ment Square. This house is said to have been sixty-seven years 
old at the time of the gathering of Concord’s Minute Men, which 
gives it to-day the venerable age of two hundred and eighteen 
years. 

On this same square is the Antiquarian Society house, another old 
survivor, and open to the public at certain hours. Here is an interesting 
collection of old furniture and other Colonial articles, while one room 
is devoted solely to Thoreau. Among other personal belongings of this 
writer, is the bed with ropes for springs, which Thoreau slept on in the 
hut where he wrote Walden. 

Behind this Antiquarian house, on the ridge, part of the Concord 
men were stationed on the 19th of April. The house itself was at that 
time the home of Reuben Brown, one of the patriots who responded to 
the call. 

Another old white house on Main Street, next to the old burial 
ground, marks the site of an early blockhouse, refuge from Indians of 
the early settlers, and possibly some of the old building is included 
within the more modern edifice. 

The Concord Art Association occupies a house almost opposite the 
Green, and which was standing on the day that the patriots assembled. 
Although the interior has been re-modeled to serve the Association’s 
purposes, the front rooms are practically the same, and the exterior is 
little changed. 

As the booklet giving the history of Concord’s Art Centre explains: 
“ the original tiny panes of glass, of curious rose and blue tints, are 
still to be seen in the vestibule.” Behind the great main chimney rising 
through the centre of the house is a secret chamber, now part of a large 
closet, and in it slaves are believed to have been hidden in the days 
preceding the Civil War. The entrance to this room was originally 
from the upper story, through a trap door, and its secret had been for¬ 
gotten when, in 1915, it was discovered by accident, while workmen 
were making an opening in the great chimney. A cannon ball, powder 



192 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


horn, candle snuffers and a three-tined fork were found in this room, 
whose full history will probably never be known. 

The third story had contained a large hall, which in 1802 was used 
for Masonic Lodge meetings. When the building was re-modeled, 
curious painted beams were uncovered. Furthermore, a loose stone in 
a retaining wall behind this house when removed revealed a cave, 
probably used as a hiding place during the Revolution, and there are 
said to be seven of these caves nearby, each site indicated by a large tree. 

An unknown compiler gives this interesting account of what takes 
place in Concord each April: 

“ A week before Memorial Day, a detachment of British soldiers, 
some Scotch kilties with their bagpipes, and veterans of the Great War 
march to the music of the drum and fife and the bagpipes, under their 
flag and ours, to the old Battle Ground, where, in the shadow of the 
pine trees planted by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the school children, 
they lay wreaths on the graves of the unknown British soldiers who fell 
at the Bridge during that short engagement with the Minute Men. The 
little company then returns to the village square, and there is met by 
a group of representative men, one of whom makes an address of greet¬ 
ing, the commanding officer replying briefly. It is indeed a sight long 
to be remembered, and though in itself a small thing, signifies the real 
bond existing between the two nations, and strengthened by their affilia¬ 
tion in the Great War.” 

The same booklet also tells that: “ Mrs. Edward Hoar, a venerable 
lady now deceased, told of having knelt as a child by the window in the 
vestibule to watch the festivities in front of the First Parish Meeting 
House in honor of Lafayette, during his second visit to America, in 
1825. Mrs. Hoar’s aunt was the young girl chosen to present Lafayette 
the bouquet of flowers, the customary tribute in those days to an honored 
guest.” 

In Billerica will be found old houses, one on the Chelmsford Road, 
kept open by the Manning Association. Their ancestor, Samuel, was 
one of the very early settlers in this section, and probably built this, 
long known as the Garrison house, used by the settlers when threatened 



The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters ^5 J 93 


with an attack by Indians. Such houses usually had brick lined walls, 
for greater protection. An early decree here directs that “ there shall 
be a house built of stone and brick, with a chimney at ye west and — 
ye roofe of ye house to be sawne stuffe, covered with bords chamfered 
and shingled.” 

The Manning house is usually open to the public on payment of a 
small fee. 

Returning to Boston by a different route, in Woburn is the Baldwin 
house, part of which is the original, dating from 1661. Here lived 
Loammi Baldwin, third generation descendant from one of Woburn’s 
first settlers, Deacon Harry Baldwin, who came here in 1641. His son, 
Loammi’s father, was a master carpenter. Loammi and his school friend, 
Benjamin Thompson, later Count Rumford, were anxious to attend lec¬ 
tures at Harvard University, but had little money, so walked there and 
back daily. In 1775, Loammi enlisted in the Continental forces, soon 
became a colonel, and was with Washington at the crossing of the 
Delaware. 

Later, while surveying land, he noticed that woodpeckers were 
continually flying back and forth, and followed them to an apple tree. 
Tasting the fruit, he found it of excellent flavor, and finally grafted 
shoots from it on a number of his own trees, eventually producing what 
is now the famous Baldwin apple. 

The Baldwin family still occupies the old house. 

Meanwhile, Thompson, who lived opposite Loammi in boyhood 
days, would seem to have been most unfortunate. He was accused of 
treason because of a letter which he admitted writing, but always 
vehemently denied that there was anything treasonable in his conduct. 
Since he defended himself in vain, found himself still suspected, he 
departed for England, and lived there during the Revolution. Charles 
Frederick, Elector and Duke of Bavaria, later invited him to that 
country, and for a number of years Thompson lived there greatly 
honored. 

In 1796, during the war between France and Austria which fol¬ 
lowed the French Revolution, he even headed the Bavarian troops, and 



194 


Historic Houses of Early America 


received the title of Count Rumford of the Holy Roman Empire, tak¬ 
ing the name of the village now Concord, New Hampshire, in which he 
was married. He received many other tokens of esteem and apprecia¬ 
tion for his services from the Duke and Elector, but after the war, 
found his popularity diminished. He had often expressed the desire to 
re-visit his native land, and while Thomas Jefferson was President, re¬ 
ceived a formal invitation to do so. Rumford deliberated this, but for 
some reason decided not to come to America, and died in his villa at 
Auteuil, in 1814. 

Medford must surely be visited. 

On the corner of Main and George Streets, one will notice a large 
square, with a double row of trees through the centre. This, part of the 
original Royall property, has recently been purchased by the City of 
Medford for a park, so the approach to the beautiful old Royall man¬ 
sion can never be ruined by buildings intervening between it and the 
street. 

The first settler in this part of the country by the name of Royall 
was a cooper, granted a tract of land in 1629, which was known as 
RyaPs Side, a name still retained. This land was on the site of the town 
of Beverly. In 1635, Royall took his family to the shores of Casco Bay, 
Maine. His son, William, settled in Yarmouth. Finally the Royalls 
found the Indians too near and dangerous neighbors for peace, so re¬ 
moved from Maine to Medford, when Isaac Royall, the builder of 
this mansion, was three years old. 

Isaac grew to manhood, engaged in the shipping business, went to 
the West Indies, and prospered. He married the daughter of another 
English settler, and three children, one of whom died in the West 
Indies, were born. Then he and his wife decided that the remaining boy 
and girl should be educated in New England, so in 1737 they returned 
to Massachusetts. 

Isaac, Senior, then purchased land in what is now Medford. This 
land had historic interest. It formed part of the immense tract granted 
in 1631 to John Winthrop, first Governor of the Province of Massa¬ 
chusetts, part of his “ Ten Hills Farm,” running down to the Mystic 



6?^ The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters ^§5 195 


River, on which he built his own home, on what is now Temple Street, 
Somerville. 

On that portion of the grant where Royall was to build his man¬ 
sion, there were in the early days dense forests, peopled with wild 
animals, wolves and bears, as well as haunted by Indians. To rid him¬ 
self of some of these troublesome neighbors, Winthrop decided to have 
the tract cleared, its heavy timber felled, and on part of the site of 
Royall’s later house, a brick farmhouse was built for the workmen to 
occupy while doing this clearing, possibly by the first John Winthrop, 
if not, by his son, and before 1677'. 

At the time that Royall bought the property, it no longer belonged 
to the Winthrop family. His intention was to found an estate on the 
style of old English estates. His brother, Jacob, took charge of the 
construction of a fitting dwelling, and this, as it stands to-day, was built 
around the old brick farmhouse. On the outer wall may clearly 
be distinguished the outline of the earlier structure, and inside, its 
beams run through the mansion, supporting the rear wall of the front 
rooms. 

When the house was finished, Colonel Royall, as he was always 
styled, moved in with his wife, bringing from Antigua, their West 
Indian home, twenty-seven slaves. Royall lived in his beautiful home 
but two years, and dying in 1739, was buried in a marble tomb in 
Dorchester. 

His son, Isaac, Junior, succeeded to the property at the age of 
twenty, and married Miss Elizabeth McIntosh, of Surinam, South 
America. 

Isaac, Junior, like his father was a colonel, a member of the Artil¬ 
lery Company of Boston. In 1761, he was made the first American 
Brigadier General. For nine years, he served as deputy to the General 
Court, always returning his salary to the treasury, and for twenty-two 
years was a member of the Governor’s Council j for sixteen years served 
as Chairman of the Selectmen of Charlestown, and when his estate was 
set off as part of Medford, he held the same office in that community. 
In 1763, he was one of a committee of three to purchase by subscription 



196 6^ Historic Houses of Early America 


the first fire engine ever owned by the town of Medford, and which 
was called u The Grasshopper.” 

He was a member of famous old King’s Chapel, Boston, but also 
kept a pew in the Medford church, to which he gave three pieces of 
silver for a communion service. 

Entertaining with lavish hospitality, his many friends were perhaps 
equally divided between Patriots and Tories. Then came the Sunday 
before Revere’s ride. 

In his coach and four, Royall set out for service at King’s Chapel, 
and never returned to his beautiful home. General Gage sent soldiers 
to take up a stand at the doors of King’s Chapel, a Tory stronghold, 
warning those of the congregation who lived outside of Boston that it 
might be dangerous for them to return that day to their homes, as there 
would probably be some slight trouble, and the roads were full of 
soldiers. Doubtless none of the Loyalists believed that this trouble 
would be long-lived or serious, but Royall decided to remain for a few 
days in Boston, where he had many friends. Perhaps not without a 
struggle did he make up his mind on which side to cast his lot. He 
evidently would have preferred to remain neutral, for he decided to 
go to the West Indies, look after his property there, and wait for the 
storm to blow over. But it happened that there was no ship sailing just 
at that time for the West Indies. 

Royall’s two daughters were married into strong Tory families j 
Mary to Sir William Pepperell, of whom more will be said later. The 
other, Penelope, had married Henry Vassall, and although he died in 
1769, his brother William, his nephew John, both living, as did the 
widow, in Cambridge, and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Thomas Oliver, wife 
of the Governor, doubtless used their influence. 

At all events, there was a ship sailing for Halifax, and Royall was 
persuaded to go there, sailing just three days before the Battle of 
Lexington, although his daughter, Penelope Vassall, remained in Cam¬ 
bridge, where she lived for some years to come. 

After arriving in Halifax, Royall sailed for England with his other 
daughter and her husband, Sir William Pepperell, and died there be¬ 
fore the Revolution was ended. 



The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters 197 


Perhaps he regretted his decision; wished that he had cast his lot 
with those who fought for independence. At all events, he felt kindly 
towards his native country, for by his will he left a tract of land to 
Harvard College, to found the Royall Professorship of Law, from 
which grew the Harvard Law School. He also requested in this will 
that “ provision be made for a Hospital for the Poor and Infirm in 
Medford or Cambridge, the poor of Medford to have preference.” 
His father had made by will elaborate provisions for keeping the estate 
in the family, English fashion. The second Isaac had but two daughters, 
and one, Lady Pepperell, died on the voyage to England, leaving a 
daughter, Harriet. Nor had his daughter Mary, sons. By 1778, Isaac 
RoyalPs estates had been confiscated, and he himself forbidden to re¬ 
turn to America. 

General John Stark occupied the house as headquarters for one year 
after the evacuation of Boston. On the same side of the mansion where 
may be traced the outline of the earlier farmhouse, a small square, high 
above the third story windows, between the two great chimneys, may 
be seen. This was originally a window reached by a winding flight of 
stairs from the third story. Whatever its original purpose, during 
Stark’s occupancy, many times his wife, Molly, watched from this lofty 
window the movements of British troops on the plain below, and several 
times she was thus able to get useful information which she sent to her 
husband in the field. Generals Lee and Sullivan also occupied the house 
at different times. Washington visited it, and in the old summer house, 
now gone, he is said repeatedly to have held councils of war. 

After the Revolution, it was for two years the home of Colonel 
Cary, whose own home at Charlestown was burned during the Battle 
of Bunker Hill. In 1790, it was used for a boarding and day school. 
In 1806, it was returned to Isaac RoyalPs heirs, who sold it, and after 
that it was owned by several people, until in i860 the family of Jacob 
Tidd occupied it. Mrs. Tidd’s brother, William Dawes (ancestor of the 
Vice-President), who rode through Cambridge while Revere was riding 
to Lexington to give the alarm, was a frequent visitor here after Tidd 
bought it. 

After i860, the old house seemed destined to come down in the 




198 Gfy{ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


world, if not to disappear. Then, in 1896, the Sarah Bradlee Fuller 
Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution rented it for 
chapter use, and at once began agitating for its purchase. At last, 
through their efforts the Royall House Association was formed, and in 
1908 the house and three quarters of an acre of land around it were pur¬ 
chased, the deed being passed on April 16th, the very day on which its 
builder had sailed away from his native land. 

Since then, the Colonial Dames, several chapters of the D. A. R., 
and the Girl Scouts have made themselves responsible for different 
rooms, and have aided in filling them with fine old furniture of the 
period when the place was the scene of brilliant social life. 

The low building through which visitors now enter, was the slave 
quarters for Colonel Isaac’s twenty-seven Antiguan slaves. Here in the 
great kitchen, with its enormous fireplace, measuring ten feet across, 
having hooks from which pots and kettles were hung, they prepared 
their own food, and that which was eaten by the Royalls as well. A door 
opposite the entrance opens directly on the courtyard of the mansion. By 
this courtyard, those arriving on horseback, or with coach and four, 
entered j the large door in the rear of the mansion is as broad and fine 
as the front one, looking out over what is now MedforcUPark. Across 
this courtyard food was carried to the house from the slave kitchen. 

This kitchen was restored as a memorial to Mrs. Charles M. Green, 
wife of the President of the Royall House Association. At the side, a 
door admits to a large room now rented for entertainments, but which 
originally was the lower floor of three separate slave houses, each with 
its own outer door on the courtyard. All of these outer doors have big 
old hinges, and several have the wooden latches and latchstrings which, 
when hung outside, raised the latch, but if drawn inside, made it im¬ 
possible to open the door from the outside. The second floor of this 
building is now the home of the custodian. 

Passing across the old paved courtyard, separated by a replica of the 
old fence from the garden, we enter the beautiful house through a side 
door into the kitchen. On this side is a fine piazza, the roof supported by 
old columns, only one of which it was necessary to replace. The kitchen 



The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters ^§5 199 


has a great fireplace, although visitors are assured that it was not used 
for cooking during Royall’s time. All sorts of old cooking utensils and 
other furnishings are now assembled here, and an old inn signboard 
is sure to attract attention. The colors and gilding are very bright, the 
board of solid old oak, and it hung outside the Royal Oak, Medford. 
Later, the place was known as Jonathan Porter’s Tavern. When the 
fifty-nine Minute Men sent by Medford returned after Concord and 
Lexington fighting, one Medford man remarked that he had one bullet 
left, and had found a mark for it. Saying this, he fired at the sign, the 
bullet passed through it, and the hole may be seen to this day. 

From the kitchen, back stairs ascend to the second and third stories, 
and one may further climb a narrow flight to Molly Stark’s window, 
or going into the beautiful hall running through the house, with the 
fine old doors each with great HL hinges, may ascend the broad flight 
of stairs here. Its handrail, including the curve over the newel post, is 
cut from a single tree; the spindles are all hand-carved, in three dif¬ 
ferent patterns, one of each on each of the broad, low treads. 

Downstairs, the room at the left of the front entrance was the 
dining room, beautifully paneled, with great fireplace, and containing 
one piece of furniture which is believed originally to have stood here. 
When the property was confiscated, all of the furniture was sold at 
public auction, and on the old inventory which was discovered there was 
mention of a cellarette. The one now here had come down in one Med¬ 
ford family from about the date of the sale of Royall’s goods, and it 
is believed that possibly it was purchased then. 

In this dining room, when the house was restored, a door was cut in 
the paneling to show the old brick wall, the great beam of the original 
brick Winthrop farmhouse. In the thick wall, too, probably by Isaac 
Royall, a niche was dug out for a safe, and above this a cupboard to 
hold other papers. The door which reveals these is concealed in the 
paneling, opened by touching a spring close to the floor. Here are also 
cupboards with fine old H and HL hinges, and a great fireplace framed 
by at least some of the original Dutch tiles. When the house was taken 
over by the D. A. R., the old fireplace was found boarded up. Remov- 



200 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


ing the boards old tiles were found thrown carelessly in a heap. Some 
were broken, but others were intact. The latter were re-set, the broken 
ones replaced with new ones made after the old design, and now one can 
hardly tell which are new, which old. 

On the opposite side of the hall are two drawing rooms, separated 
by doors which when folded back into the deep archway are scarcely 
distinguishable. It is impossible to avoid superlatives in speaking of 
these two rooms. Each has a broad fireplace surrounded by fine old 
tiles j each has two large windows, with carved framework. From the 
front room opens what was perhaps a powdering closet, now used to 
display some rare old china j in the rear room, at each side of the fire¬ 
place set in deep recesses are windows with seats beneath. Both rooms 
are paneled exquisitely, and the carving in the rear room is singularly 
lovely. The three-leaved shutters close tightly over all windows j the 
great boards in the wall paneling were cut from the virgin timber near 
the mansion, and one of these measures forty-three inches. 

Passing up the broad staircase, there are four large bedrooms on 
the second floor, the one over the rear drawing room the state guest 
chamber, with the same deep window recesses as below, the same beau¬ 
tiful woodwork, here a wainscoting, instead of reaching to the ceiling. 
Above the wainscoting the walls of this room were hung with leather, 
on which birds and foliage were depicted in brilliant colors. Against 
the white woodwork, this must have been most effective. The three¬ 
leaved shutters here have each a six-pointed star peephole, near the top. 
The molding over the windows is carved in a beautiful design of roses 
and acanthus leaves. Once a four-post bedstead stood here, with crimson 
silk damask coverings, and perhaps a similar one may sometime be 
found for the room. All of the old furniture now here has been col¬ 
lected or contributed by friends. 

In another bedroom stands the four-poster in which President Pierce 
was born. The Association is further fortunate in owning a small quan¬ 
tity of tea from the Boston Tea Party, said to have been collected from 
the boots of one of the participants, and for years treasured in his 
family. 



6 ^ The Royall Mansion and Slave Quarters ^5 201 


Four more rooms on the third story, reached by the back stairs only, 
include a loom room. 

Among the papers issued by the Medford Historical Society, is one 
last bit of history connected with the Royall family, or rather with one 
of Isaac’s slaves. 

When he departed at such short notice for Halifax and England, 
his slaves must have been left with little or no provision, and so we 
find that in 1783, Belinda, an aged African, one of them, begs the 
courts for maintenance for herself and her more infirm daughter. She 
states that she, Belinda, had been a slave for fifty years, and her master 
was 11 an absentee in England, from whence at that time he could not 
return.” In consequence, she was in want. The courts allowed her fifteen 
pounds and twelve shillings per annum. 

Upper Medford was the birthplace of Governor Peter Brooks. His 
father, Caleb, built a house here in 1715, and for 167 years it stood at 
the turn of the road. In 1882, the owner, Marshall Symmes, built him¬ 
self a new house, removed the leanto from the old one, and moved the 
two-story building itself a few feet behind his barn, at the same time 
turning it around. The old front door was taken off, and the opening 
closed, but the solid oak timbers, even the old shutters remained, defy¬ 
ing time. No longer a dwelling, it was used for storing apples and farm 
implements, and at least a few years ago still stood. 

Medford has several other interesting old houses, now private resi¬ 
dences. Up Bradlee Road, stands one of brick, known as the Garrison 
house, built in 1680 by Major Jonathan Wade. It has been consider¬ 
ably altered and re-modeled. 

The Isaac Hall house, originally one of a row of five, built in 1727, 
all occupied by members of the Hall family, is the only survivor. At 
this house Paul Revere stopped on his ride to rouse Isaac Hall, Captain 
of the Minute Men, and every year now the drama is re-enacted. A 
man impersonating Revere knocks at the door, and another wearing a 
nightcap, sticks his head out from an upper window, and calls: “ Who’s 
there? ” 

The Craddock house on Riverside Avenue, once called Ship Street, 



202 


Historic Houses of Early America 


is another survivor. People used to be told that this was the two-story 
brick house built by Matthew Craddock’s agents, in compliance with 
his directions, in 1634, and it was called “ the oldest brick house in 
America.” It is now more generally believed that the original house 
was replaced by the present one in 1680, by the first Peter Tufts, but 
first occupied by the second, Captain Peter. 

Matthew Craddock, who owned the land, never came to America. 
The building is often called the Fort, because of its thick walls, eighteen 
inches, close outside shutters, and small port holes. Even if one refuse 
it the earlier date, it is still venerable. 











Chapter IX 

The Witches and Indians ^5 


c 

Several days could easily be devoted to Salem’s old houses, both nu¬ 
merous and beautiful. Even when strictly private residences, there 
is much to admire by merely strolling past, and staring with as little 
violation of good manners as possible, at the fine fagades, doorways, 
and noble proportions. Salem’s disastrous fire in 1913 spared most of 
the old houses, destroying the business and more modern section. 

Of the residences to which only personal acquaintance would secure 
admission, may be mentioned the Pickering house on Broad Street. Set 
in a square of grounds, and always owned by the family of Pickering, 
the old house unfortunately has been sadly disfigured by additions and 
changes, and painted a slate grey, instead of the probably original white. 
The ugly jig-saw ornamentation, beloved of the 1850’s, abounds, the 
old gambrel roof was years ago replaced by a pointed one of slate. 

The Pickering family is distinguished. Timothy, born here in 
Salem, in 1745, took part in the Battle of Lexington, and the following 
year joined the Continental Army, in command of seven hundred men, 
was appointed Adjutant General by Washington, and from then until 
the end of the war, was Quartermaster of the Army. He then served 
his country as Secretary of War under President Washington, and is 
buried in the old Broad Street burial ground. His son, John, born in 
Salem, distinguished himself as a philologist, and two of Timothy’s 
great-grandsons won reputations as astronomers. 

Built before 1685, the house in which Nathaniel Hawthorne was 
born in 1804, still stands on Union Street. The Home for Aged and 


203 



204 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Destitute Women, on Derby Street, was the Benjamin Crowninshield 
residence, built in 1811. Six years later, President Monroe and many 
notable guests were entertained in it. From 1825 to 1849, it was the 
home of General Miller, of Lundy’s Lane fame. 

The Bertram Home for Aged Men, also on Derby Street, was built 
in 1806-7 by Captain Joseph Waters. 

Another beautiful old mansion not open to the public is the Cabot- 
Endicott, on Essex Street, but one may admire in passing the very 
beautiful old door. The house was built in 1748 by Joseph Cabot, and 
later became the home of Supreme Court Justice William Crownin¬ 
shield Endicott, Secretary of War during President Cleveland’s ad¬ 
ministration. 

On Federal Street, the Assembly House may easily be distinguished 
by its size and ornate fagade. Corinthian pillars support the porch roof, 
and in the same design square, half-relief pillars extend across the 
fagade of the second story. Lafayette was given a ball here in 1782, and 
two years later, Washington was guest of honor at another ball. 

Another fine old house close by was built in 1816 by Captain Samuel 
Cook, and given to his son-in-law, General Henry Kemble Oliver, who 
composed the familiar old hymn tune, “ Federal Street,” within its 
walls. Much of the interior fittings of the Derby mansion was purchased 
to use in this interior. The Derby mansion, very magnificent for its day, 
was built in 1799, by Elias Haskett Derby, at what was then the enor¬ 
mous cost of $80,000. He died that same year, and as no purchaser 
could be found for so expensive a residence it was torn down. Market 
House was not built on the site until 1816. 

If time in Salem is limited, it would be best to spend it at the Essex 
Institute, for even if one does not care to inspect the valuable collec¬ 
tions of old costumes, coins, pottery, valuable documents, old portraits 
and furniture, here may be seen one of Salem’s oldest houses, and parts 
of several others. 

Passing through the main building into the garden at the rear, here 
is the house of John Ward, built in 1684. Just who Ward was, save 
that he was an early resident, the Museum people have been unable to 



The Witches and Indians 


205 


learn. The quaint house, with its overhanging second story, was re¬ 
moved to the present site when threatened with demolition. It is known 
that Ward purchased the lot on which it stood in 1684, built his house 
two stories and a half high, and lived in it until his death in 1732. Six 
successive owners then followed, until in 1877, the County of Essex 
purchased it to be preserved as a museum. 

Entering, the visitor finds himself in one of the early Salem u cent 
shops,” such as Hawthorne describes Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon as open¬ 
ing in the House of the Seven Gables. Here are even samples of 
gingerbread men and animals, such as Hepzibah sold to voracious little 
Ned Higgins, and many other wares sold in such shops in Salem’s early 
days j the “ Salem bundle kerchiefs,” very large, and almost as gayly 
colored as bandannas, which housewives used for carrying home their 
purchases, and which one may still see occasionally used for the same 
purpose. Here is one of the small ladles used to measure out one ladle 
of milk, or two of liquid yeast for one cent. There are, too, samples of 
old time candies in glass cases; “Jawbreakers,” supposed to last the 
child all day, peppermints, and especially the Gibraltars for which 
Salem became noted, and which Hawthorne includes in poor Hepzibah’s 
little stock. 

Gibraltars came into existence thus: 

In 1822, there was a bad shipwreck, and among the victims landed 
at Salem was an English family. They were in great poverty and dis¬ 
tress, and when it became known that the mother, Mrs. Spencer, knew 
how to make candy, kind neighbors donated a barrel of sugar, and she 
began making candies, first selling them from pails on the steps of the 
old Salem First Church. She called them Gibraltars, and they soon be¬ 
came so popular that all of the cent shops sold them, and after a time, 
Mrs. Spencer decided that they were cutting too deeply into her profits. 
So buying a horse and cart, she drove around the country peddling the 
goods herself. The cart is now in the Essex Museum, with a quaint old 
picture of the candymaker driving it. 

The right hand front room of the Ward house is a large kitchen 
and living room combined, with great fireplace, its walls of broad old 



206 Historic Houses of Early America 


planks, the floor almost entirely the original. A number of interesting 
pieces of old furniture and utensils have been collected here. There are 
a tavern table, with old linsey woolsey cover; what might be called the 
precursor of a modern bridge lamp, although designed for candles, and 
made of wood} one of the quaint old Bible boxes, with two locks, and 
a chair which once belonged to Mary English, wife of one of Salem’s 
wealthiest 17th century shipowners, who owned twenty-one ships. Both 
he and Mary were accused of witchcraft during that horrible delusion, 
but succeeded in escaping to New York. 

When the house was moved to its present site, restored and re¬ 
painted, one of the original old leaded windows was found, and copied 
for the entire house. 

A small room behind the cent shop was used, but at a much later 
period, as an apothecary shop, and here are weighing scales, mortars and 
pestles, bottles and demijohns, etc. The custodian was amazed one day 
to hear an adult visitor exclaim in admiration over the “ little pedestals 
and pettijohns.” 

The upper floors are not shown. 

Also in the Museum garden is a small, one-roomed house, nearly a 
century old, once a cobbler shop, and another building, the first Quaker 
Meeting House in Salem, built in 1688. Here, too, is the so-called 
Doctor Grimshaw doorway and portico, believed to be that described by 
Hawthorne in his story of that name. Furthermore, the site of the 
Museum itself is of interest, for in the first house to stand here lived 
Samuel Downing, and his son, George, for whom Downing Street, 
London, was named. Other residents were Governor Simon Bradstreet 
and Nathan Reed, Member of Congress, who, it is said, built and navi¬ 
gated a steamboat eighteen years before Robert Fulton, and finally the 
historian Prescott. 

From a window in the Museum one may catch a glimpse of the 
beautiful old Andrew house, now occupied by the Safford family, on 
Washington Square, with fine old columns of a side portico extending 
three stories to the roof. The old mahogany front door was found by 
the present occupants in the attic, and has been polished and replaced. 



The Witches and Indians 


207 


When built in 1818, this house was said to be the most expensive in 
New England. 

Next door to the Museum is another handsome house, built in 
1810 by John Gardner, one of the last pieces of work of Salem’s famous 
architect, Mclntire. In 1830 Joseph White, who then owned it, was 
murdered by a man hired by his nephew, and it is supposed that the 
story of this murder suggested to Hawthorne Pyncheon’s death in 
The House of the Seven Gables. 

Every visitor to Salem, however hurried, will surely visit the House 
of the Seven Gables, and the fact that Hawthorne expressly denied that 
the house now standing was the one described in his romance makes 
little difference to .the many tourists who annually visit it. Certainly, 
even ignoring any connection with the story, it more than merits a visit. 
Standing close to the water, with lawn sloping down to a sea wall, it is 
most attractive, and at all events, Hawthorne visited here. His portrait 
hangs above what is said to have been his desk, with his favorite chair 
before it. The house has seven gables, it has a secret staircase, and is a 
fine specimen of architecture, so what more could be asked? 

Standing in what is now almost wholly a foreign quarter, it is fitting 
that it should be devoted to community and social settlement work. 
Hawthorne’s description of the scene of his romance certainly quite 
describes this old house. 

“ On every side, the seven gables pointed sharply to the sky, and 
presented the aspect of a whole sisterhood of edifices, breathing through 
the spiracles of one great chimney. The many lattices, with their small, 
diamond shaped panes admitted the sunlight into hall and chamber, 
while, nevetheless, the second story, projecting far over the base, (some 
license must be excused here) and itself retiring beneath the third, 
threw a shadowy and thoughtful gloom into the lower rooms. Carved 
globes of wood were affixed under the jutting stories.” These may be 
seen both on this and on the Hathaway house mentioned later. Even 
Hawthorne’s description of the locality fits to-day. 

“The street in which it upreared its venerable peaks has long 
ceased to be a fashionable quarter of the townj so that, although the 



208 Historic Houses of Early America 


old edifice was surrounded by habitations of modern date, they were 
mostly small, built entirely of wood, and typical of the most plodding 
uniformity of modern life.” 1 

Visitors enter the house by a side door, opening directly from the 
street, and may fancy themselves in Hepzibah’s old cent shop, now an 
office, and serving for the sale of souvenirs, but probably never until 
now was there really a shop of any kind here. From this, one is shown 
into the fine old dining room. Beside the old fireplace a door opens into 
a wood closet, but a spring pressed, a door in the back opens, revealing 
the secret staircase. Visitors may mount this staircase, now lighted by 
electricity, and climb narrow, steep and winding stairs, until by the time 
the top is reached it is dark, for one has come two stories, and the light 
is far below. Suddenly a door is opened by the guide, and one steps out 
into a small bedroom, entirely paneled in dark wood. When the door 
is closed, it is impossible to find it, for the panels are closely joined. 
This, of course, is Clifford’s chamber. The secret passage had long been 
lost, and was re-discovered only twenty-five years ago. 

Other rooms on this floor are used by the settlement workers. From 
a skylight in the sloping roof a fine view may be had of the harbor. We 
now descend the main stairs, and are shown a beautiful “ grand cham¬ 
ber,” looking out from the second story over the lawn and water. Here 
is a fine old fireplace, with wall cupboards, the chimney wall paneled, 
the rest of the walls wainscoted. Woodwork and paneling were prob¬ 
ably added in 1720. In this room is a bed in which Hawthorne slept 
when visiting here, several portraits of him, and the desk and chair 
mentioned. 

Below is the beautiful drawing room, also finely paneled. The 
china cupboard beside the great fireplace, has a finely hand carved inner 
shell top. On the iron fireboard behind the andirons in the old fireplace 
is this curious 16th century inscription: “An Ape will never be a 
Man.” Was this in answer to an early precursor of Darwin? 

The front door of the house is a reproduction of the original, 
heavily studded with nails. Repairing, re-modeling and re-building 

1 House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne. 




Clifford s Bedroom, showing sliding panel at right of fireplace opening out onto the 
secret staircase in the House of Seven Gables. 



House of Seven Gables, Salem, Massachusetts. 













The Hathaway house, Salem, Massachusetts. Retire Bucket house, Salem, Massachusetts. 


The Witches and Indians 


209 


were done at various times, for the house was built in 1668, but much 
of the old still remains. The Ingersoll family, whom Hawthorne 
visited here, first owned it in 1782, but the lovely drawing room and 
bedroom above had much the present appearance before then. 

Several old buildings have been brought from their original sites 
to the grounds of the House of the Seven Gables. An old barn has been 
made into an attractive tea room, and either here, or in the charming 
old fashioned garden, now carefully restored, luncheons and teas are 
served in the summer for the benefit of the settlement work. 

The “ Old Bakery ” is another building, moved here, and dating 
from 1683. Still another is the Hathaway house, built in 1683, its beams 
brought from England by Roger Conant, leader in 1626 of the first 
settlers, and commemorated by a statue facing the Common. Conant 
first went to Gloucester, but not caring for the climate, the beams were 
then brought to Salem, and used in building by Governor Endicott. 
When his house was torn down, they were given to Hathaway. 

The original house seems to have consisted of the large front room, 
its walls of natural colored wood, with a big old fireplace, and one room 
above. The door opening from the small entry has three glass bull’s- 
eyes set near the top, through which the visitor might be examined be¬ 
fore the door was opened. A loom two hundred years old standing in 
this room is still used by pupils of the settlement for weaving rugs. 
The small entry and square room behind were added later, about 17*35, 
the paneling and other woodwork brought from a house which stood 
on the corner of Federal Street, where now is a theatre. The second 
story and attic, used for settlement work, are not shown. 

The charming old Retire Becket house is now entirely furnished 
with antiques for sale, which make the interior very harmonious. Three 
Dutch doors open from without, although the lower floor now consists 
of but a single room and small entry, from which the stairs ascend. 
Probably there were originally three small rooms here, as the ceiling 
beams would seem to indicate. The house was moved here from Becket 
Street, when threatened with being torn down. 

John Becket built it in 1655, and it descended in the family until 




210 


6 ^ Historic Houses of Early America 


his great-great-grandson, Retire Becket, a famous Salem shipbuilder, 
owned it. Tradition says that additions were often made to the old 
house, and then, as children married and went to homes of their own, 
torn away. 

Still a fourth outer door opens into the entry, papered with a re¬ 
production of a rare old ship pattern. In the upper hall, the worm- 
eaten but still strong old beams and rafters may be seen. 

Last of the interesting little group of buildings is a small, one- 
roomed counting house, used by the various shipowners who lived in 
the dwelling. An interesting old desk is here, with six secret com¬ 
partments, or drawers, the existence of at least three of which is hardly 
to be suspected. 

The Witch House, said to be oldest in Salem, was at all events 
built before 1675, and some say as early as 1635. Ship carpenters built 
it, of swamp oak, and the floors are laid with over and under lap, like a 
ship’s deck. A modern store on the street corner half conceals it from 
sight, and only two rooms of the second story, now occupied as an 
antique shop, are shown, but these are well worth a visit. Originally the 
house consisted of two large rooms on each of the two stories, with the 
small entry and stairs between the rooms. An addition in the rear was 
made later. 

The stairs wind up curiously, and are broader than is customary in 
so old a house, while but three of the treads are straight. One may 
admire broad planks in the original floors, old fireplaces and cupboards, 
with strap and HL hinges. 

No witch trials were ever held in this house, but it derives its name 
from the fact that Judge Corwin, who conducted these trials in 1692, 
lived here, and some of the preliminary examinations may have been 
conducted in it. The Judge’s portrait hangs in the Essex Museum j that 
of a severe, narrow-minded looking elderly man. 

The Peirce Nichols house is open, through the courtesy of its owner, 
on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, upon presentation of a card 
which may be obtained from the Essex Museum. It is a most beautiful 
example of its period, built in 1782, from designs by Samuel Mclntire, 



The Witches and Indians 


211 


Salem’s famous architect, for Jerathmeel Peirce, a wealthy Salemite. 
Mclntire himself is said to have done the carving on the front door, and 
in the large room at the left of the hall, while for the more ornate 
drawing room opposite he had the aid of his brother and nephew. In 
1801, one of Mr. Peirce’s daughters married a Mr. Nichols, and at 
her death, her sister married him. There were no Peirce sons, the house 
descended in the Nichols family, and has belonged to them ever since. 

The front door is exquisite, with its double cross panels, its flutings, 
which are also carried all along the top of the washboard in the broad 
hall running through the house. Pineapples, signifying hospitality, 
figure prominently in the carvings of door frames. 

In the sitting room at the left are paneling, a large fireplace and 
wall cupboards, all carved. A door opening into a side entry has a curi¬ 
ous arrangement of two brass rings, one of which when turned unlocks, 
the other locks the door. Behind the sitting room is the dining room, and 
both are filled with fine old furniture. 

The drawing room, which it is said was eighteen years in the making, 
is beautiful. Its four deep recessed windows have small sofas built 
so as exactly to fit into the recesses, and two others, similarly fit on 
each side of the big fireplace with its paneled mantel in the rear 
wall. A mirror specially imported from France fills a prepared niche 
above the mantel. The first Miss Peirce was married in this room, and 
no expense or pains were spared to make it a beautiful setting for the 
ceremony. 

The handsome old staircase in the hall — it is impossible to speak 
of this house without adjectives — leads up to the second and third 
stories. The Chippendale handrail above the hand carved spindles of 
the balustrade, is like them, of solid mahogany, but it is oddly cut in 
short lengths, supposedly to imitate Chinese bamboo, Chippendale hav¬ 
ing a weakness for things Chinese. The upper floors are not shown, but 
visitors may stroll in the old garden, sloping down in a series of terraces 
to what was in early days the harbor, now a filled-in street. Once a 
wharf extended from behind this house, and many ships landed there. 
The first cargo of coal, that strange new fuel, which people declared 



212 


Historic Houses of Early America 


would never burn, any more than rocks, was landed at this wharf, and 
in the sitting room is one of the first stoves used in Salem for coal. 

The Ropes Memorial, for five generations occupied by the Ropes 
family, with its old furniture, china, portraits, etc., is open to the public 
on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons. One could spend hours 
studying the collections in the eight large rooms which visitors are 
shown, or in strolling in the beautiful old garden. A fund was left with 
the house for the “ maintenance of botanical lectures.” 

This house was built about 1719, and purchased in 1768 by Judge 
Nathaniel Ropes. His grandfather came to the Colonies from England 
about 1642. Judge Ropes was a strong Loyalist, and on March 17th, 
1774, while he was ill in this house, it was attacked by a mob of patriots, 
and he died the next day, partly due, it is thought, to the excitement. 
The last of the family to live here were Nathaniel Ropes 5th and 
his three sisters. The house was moved back from the street and 
an ell added by the last owners, and at their death it passed to the 
city. 

Leaving Salem reluctantly, it is but a short drive to the old town 
of Beverly, where is a fine three-storied brick house, now occupied by 
the Beverly Historical Society. It was built in 1781 by John Cabot, and 
judging from pictures preserved in the Society’s rooms here, those of 
his two brothers were equally handsome} George’s, where Washington 
was entertained in 1787, and Andrew’s, built in 1784, have disappeared. 
The former was replaced by a gas filling station, the latter, sold for a 
town hall in 1841, was torn down to make room for the present new 
building. The house of the brother’s mother, Elizabeth, was moved 
from its original site, the fine staircase and paneling torn out and sold. 

The three brothers were all born in Salem. George came to Beverly 
as a child, and in 1770 was town delegate to the Provincial Congress 
at Concord. In 1788, he was a member of the State Convention, and in 
1793, United States Senator, and removed to Boston. 

Andrew, a year older, in 1779 chartered to the Provincial Govern¬ 
ment his ship, the Defense, for an expedition against the enemy in 
Penobscot Bay. The ship was lost. 



The Witches and Indians ^5 


213 


John, the third brother, was Representative of the General Court 
in 1792, and it was he who built the house which is now standing. 

This survivor has a fine hand carved staircase, leading from the 
front door to a landing, where it meets a similar flight starting from 
the rear, and the latter continues to the third story. The house is finely 
paneled, and filled with interesting relics and furniture belonging to 
the Society or loaned, including two autograph letters of Washington, 
costumes of bygone days, etc., but nothing which belonged to the Cabots. 

At the other end of the town is the very old Balch homestead, which 
has belonged in the family of that name ever since it was built in 1639. 
It is now owned by the Balch Family Association, and is being gradually 
restored to its original state. John Balch, founder of the family in 
America, was born in Bridgewater, England, in 1579, and landed on 
Cape Ann in 1623, coming to Salem three years later, and then to 
Beverly. 

At present there is little here but the old walls, roof and floors, but 
the modern plaster is being removed, and in time it is hoped to restore 
it completely, and furnish it with suitable pieces of its original period. 
Not the least of the good work already accomplished is that done on a 
magnificent old tree beside the house, which by means of cork filling, 
chains and rivets, will, it is hoped, be preserved for many years. 

Going far afield now, in the northwestern part of Massachusetts is 
a town filled with old houses, every one of historic interest, while the 
town itself has had a thrilling history. 

Everyone knows Deerfield, and has read of the devastating Indian 
attacks, but even before white settlers came, blood was shed here. 

In 1664, on the site of Deerfield there stood in a clearing a fort 
belonging to the Pocumtuck Indians. Here they were attacked, their 
fort stormed and captured by the fierce Mohawks and their allies. The 
“ Apostle Eliot ” had for some time been petitioning for a grant of 
land in the wilderness, and in 1665 this was finally given him, meaning 
that he was permitted to purchase the land from the Indians. In that 
same year, a party of four men rode from Dedham, and found the 
clearing made by the Pocumtucks a good place in which to found a new 



214 Historic Houses of Early America 


settlement. Eliot is said to have purchased 8,000 acres here in 1671, 
and the town was laid out, old Deerfield Street to-day occupying the 
“ Town Plot.” In deeding the land, the Indians reserved the right to 
fish, hunt, and pick up nuts on it. 

Samuel Frary was probably the second settler, and had cultivated 
land in this section as early as 1669. At first, when the Indian outbreak 
of 1675 began, Deerfield was not molested, but hardly had two or three 
houses of the little settlement been slightly fortified, than Captain 
Lothrop and his eighty men, who had come to guard the removal for 
greater safety of a quantity of grain to Hadley, were surprised by the 
Indians, headed, it was said, by King Philip himself, set upon, and only 
seven escaped. 

They were avenged by a detachment under Captain Moseley, who 
arrived too late to rescue Lothrop and his men, but finding the Indians 
engaged in pillaging the bodies, surprised them in turn, and falling on 
them, killed about a hundred, and chased the rest back and forth across 
the swamps until they fled. Of these troops but two were killed, and six 
or eight wounded. The settlers in Deerfield, however, scattered. By 
1677, they were back again, Frary apparently among them, and then or 
soon afterwards, the oldest part of the present Frary house was built, 
the oldest in Franklin County. 

King Philip had at first been friendly with the settlers, but his 
treachery was terribly punished. A curious story is told of him, to the 
effect that he went in disguise so perfect that even his closest friends 
could not penetrate it, and that he never slept in the same place for 
two consecutive nights. 

None the less, he was killed by an Indian whose brother Philip had 
killed. This Indian and a white ally tracked him down, and both took 
aim, but it was the Indian’s bullet which found its mark. 

Philip’s wife and child, taken prisoners during the war, were sold 
into slavery in the West Indies. 

In 1682, the Indians attacked Deerfield again, but were driven off, 
and six years later there were sixty landowners in the settlement. 

King William’s war brought renewed attacks. In 1694, Baron 



The Witches and Indians 


215 


Castine with an army assembled in Canada, tried to surprise Deerfield, 
but was driven back. Still another army organized in Canada turned 
back after the Deerfield scouts discovered them. 

By the time of Queen Anne’s War, there were three hundred in¬ 
habitants. They were repeatedly warned of impending Indian attacks, 
but as they were no longer quite such a frontier town, and as they had 
strongly fortified Meeting Hill, they escaped them, save that two men 
were captured and taken to Canada. 

Then in 1704, French and Indians under Hertel de Rouville, 
killed or captured almost the entire garrison, burning every house ex¬ 
cept that known as Ensign Sheldon’s, and the Frary house, the ell 
of the present one. Frary was killed, his wife taken prisoner. Later, 
the house was owned by the Barnards. In 1746, when one of these 
Barnards was off to war, he went to a neighbor’s to say goodbye and, 
noticing a little girl in her cradle, is said to have remarked: “ Keep 
her until the war is over, and I will marry her.” Twenty years later 
he did marry her, Elizabeth Nims. 

About 1763, the beautiful ballroom was added to the Frary house, 
and it became a tavern. In 1775, Benedict Arnold, then a loyal Patriot, 
rode up to this tavern, sent for Thomas Dickinson, made him Assistant 
Commissary, and ordered 15,000 pounds of beef to be sent on after him, 
then hurried to Ticonderoga. Arrived there, he found that the fort had 
already surrendered to Ethan Allen. Dickinson and his brother fol¬ 
lowed with the cattle, for which Dickinson’s only personal pay was the 
glass of liquor given him by Arnold in the tavern. 

In 1890, a descendant of the Frary family bought back the house. 
Now a private residence, when in August, 1926, many of Deerfield’s 
old houses were thrown open to the public, in honor of the 250th 
anniversary of the town, punch was served over the old bar of tavern 
days. 

When de Rouville and his forces attacked Deerfield, killing forty- 
nine men, women and children, they took as prisoners twenty-seven 
men, twenty-four women and fifty-eight children. These captives they 
collected in the house of Ensign Sheldon until they were ready to 



2i6 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


march them to Canada, and this may be the reason why this house was 
not burned. It stood until 1848, during the latter part of its existence 
known as the Indian house, and the door, always called the Indian 
Door, showing marks of Indian hacking and firing, is now preserved 
in Memorial Hall, Deerfield. 

Just when this Sheldon house was built seems uncertain, but in 
1703-4 it stood, a fortified or garrison house, and within it a number 
of settlers had assembled for greater safety when the attack was made. 
Captain John, son of the builder, was sleeping with his wife in a second 
story room. They jumped out from the east window, hoping thus to 
escape, but Mrs. Sheldon injured her ankle so badly that she could not 
go on, and finally induced her husband to leave her, and make his own 
escape. Meanwhile, Mrs. Sheldon, Senior, in the lower room, had been 
killed by a musket ball, fired through a hole which was cut by a toma¬ 
hawk in the front door. The enemy came in through a back door left 
open by a boy, who escaped through it during the attack, and it is 
thought that had it not been for this the inhabitants might again have 
defended themselves successfully. 

On the march to Canada, twenty of the prisoners were killed, in¬ 
cluding Mrs. Williams. After peace was made, and friends sought 
news of them, some of the children preferred to remain in Canada. In 
1722, there was another Indian outbreak, but save that five men were 
killed, and one boy and a girl taken prisoners, Deerfield escaped. 

Of the attack in 1703-4, the account of an eye-witness has come 
down to us. Hannah Sheldon’s youngest son, Remembrance, survived, 
was taken prisoner, and returned to write his reminiscences, which have 
recently been transcribed and published. 2 Among other interesting 
details, he tells: 

“ In October, Godfrey Nims’ two sons had been carried off by 
Indians while they were searching the meadows for their cattle.” Play¬ 
ing Indian was at that early time a favorite game with the little boys, 
too young to remember, as some of their parents could, the attack 
made in 1693 on the settlement. In February, 1704, Remembrance’s 

2 Story of Remembrance Sheldon , transcribed by Matilda S. Hyde. 



The Witches and Indians ^5 


217 


father started for Hatfield on business of his own, and to buy medicine 
for the sick. Remembrance wonders if he would ever have started had 
he heard the rumors then beginning to circulate, as to the presence of 
large numbers of Indians in the neighborhood. 

Then came the fatal night. 

His mother aroused him, bade him hand her her clothes, and dress 
himself and little Mercy. Indians were at the moment hacking at the 
door, made of double thicknesses of oak, which it was hoped might 
withstand the attack. The boy did as he was told, when there came 
another sound. Turning to his mother, he called her, but she was dead, 
shot through the heart by a musket poked through a hole in the door 
which the attackers had succeeded in making. Hannah, the young wife of 
John Sheldon, Remembrance’s older brother, loaded muskets bravely, 
while Mary, a sister, melted and molded shot. Remembrance tells 
that he was “ something of an adept at throwing the knife,” from 
much practise, and he now threw one to such effect that one of the 
Indians, as he was bursting into the house, fell with a cry. 

As has been told, the back door in the leanto was found to have 
been left open by an escaping boy, and through that door the attacking 
party now entered. Remembrance always suspected that this lad was 
“ Coffee, the slave,” or else “ why should he shrink from me to this 
day? ” although he, his wife, and “ little Coffee ” were then living 
under the Sheldon roof. (This of course was years later, when Re¬ 
membrance and others of the family had returned from their cap¬ 
tivity.) 

He tells how it goes against the grain for him to see “ Mary and 
Ebenezer in the last ten years dispense hospitality at Deerfield tavern 
to scores of Mohawk Indians, whom they durst not turn away, giving 
them free bed and board because, forsooth, of having lived captive in 
their lodges.” He is “ very glad his father moved to Hartford, leaving 
the two young people to keep the tavern, which he did so soon as ever 
he had got Parson Williams’ family settled again in Deerfield, with 
the hundred and more other captives he had redeemed.” 

Mrs. Sheldon, Junior, who injured her ankle, was taken prisoner, 



218 Historic Houses of Early America 


and after two years and a half was released. Possibly the Sheldon 
house, built about 1708, near the north end of the street, and still stand¬ 
ing, was her new home. 

One of the little garrison in the house, Bridgman by name, hid in 
the garret under some bark, at the time of the attack. He was dis¬ 
covered, and marched down into the cellar by his captors, as they ex¬ 
plored the building. Here he loitered behind, and was apparently 
forgotten, but decided that they might take worse vengeance on him if 
they suddenly remembered him than if he voluntarily rejoined them, 
so did this. An Indian cut and twisted off one of his fingers, but did 
him no other harm, and when the northward march was begun, by 
again loitering behind, he managed, though badly hurt, to escape. 

Ebenezer Sheldon was among the captives, and his rescue was 
effected thus: 

Major Dudley, the Governor’s son, was in Canada in 1706, after 
the close of the war, arranging for the redemption of prisoners, when 
he noticed the boy, and asked him if he were not English. The child 
answered that he was, and when further asked if he did not want to go 
home, replied that he did. 

The Major sent for the Indian chief who owned the boy, and de¬ 
manded if he would accept $20 for the child, at the same time dis^ 
playing the money. 

As he had thought, the Indian could not resist the sight of it, and 
agreed to relinquish the boy. The Major promptly sent Ebenezer on 
board one of the English ships in the harbor, waiting there to take the 
redeemed prisoners home, for he feared that the Indian might change 
his mind. This did happen, but when the chief returned with the 
money, begging to be given back the boy, he was told that the child 
had already gone, and thus Ebenezer returned to his home to “ dis¬ 
pense hospitality ” which so angered his younger brother. 

Ebenezer had learned to speak the Indian tongue fluently, and after 
he returned to Deerfield, married and settled there, his former Indian 
master came to visit him. 

In 1744, Ebenezer sold the house of Jonathan Hoyt, whose father, 



The Witches and Indians 


219 


David, with his wife and four children, were taken prisoners by the 
Indians, while one girl was killed. One of the boys stayed with the In¬ 
dians when other captives were ransomed. In 1803, the Hoyts added to 
the old house. 

In 1686, to “ incourage Mr. John Williams to settle in Deerfield,” 
and to induce him to become their pastor, the inhabitants of that town 
agreed that they “ will give him 16 cow commons of meadow land, 
with a home lot that lyeth on the meeting house hill . . . they will 
build him a house 42 feet long, 20 feet wide, with a lento on the back 
side of the house,” and also to “ finish said house, to fence his home 
lot, and within two years ... to build him a barn.” His salary was 
to be “ sixty pounds a year for the present, and four or five years after 
this agreement ” they would “ add to his salary and make it eighty 
pounds.” 

When the Williams family, like others, were aroused from slum¬ 
ber by the yells of the savages, two infant children and a black servant 
were instantly killed. John Williams, his wife and the remaining chil¬ 
dren were taken prisoners. Mrs. Williams, sick and feeble, with a baby 
only a week old, when she was dragged from her bed, and made to 
begin the long march to Canada, could not keep up with her captors. 
Growing tired of her lagging steps, the Indians tomahawked her at the 
foot of a hill in the present town of Greenfield, Massachusetts, and 
before her captive huband’s very eyes. 

Eunice, a little girl, and her brother Eleazer, were the only two of 
the Williams children who survived to reach Canada. Eunice grew up 
among the Indians, adopted their ways, and when offered a chance 
after the war was over, and arrangements were being made to ransom 
the captives, refused to return. Remembrance Sheldon declares, how¬ 
ever, that at first she longed to return, but hearing that she had a step¬ 
mother, and being told by the priest who had baptized her that she 
would “ damn her soul ” if she went, she decided to remain in Canada. 
Here she married one whom Remembrance calls “ Arosen, the finest 
Indian I ever knew.” When she was persuaded years later to visit her 
family, he accompanied her. But although she shed tears at parting with 



220 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


her sister (this must have been a half-sister or sister-in-law), nothing 
would induce her to remain, and she and her Indian husband returned 
to Canada, never to be seen again by her Deerfield relatives. 

Eunice must have been something of a trial to her relatives during 
that visit. Although they did persuade her to don civilized dress and 
attend church service once, she tore off the clothes as soon as she re¬ 
turned to their home, and resuming her blanket, could never again be 
persuaded to leave it off. Nor would she sleep in a bed, but stretched 
herself on a blanket on the floor. 

Eunice was re-christened Marguerite, when baptized by the French 
Catholic priest, and although she married an Indian, her children were 
always called by the name of Williams, and her daughter’s son was 
known as Eleazer Williams. He was one of those who claimed to be 
the dauphin, Louis XVII of France, apparently basing his claim solely 
upon what is said to have been a remarkable resemblance to the royal 
family of Bourbons. 

The Williams house was among those burned, as were all save the 
two mentioned, and the log church, spared presumably by the French 
members of the attacking force. When, in 1707, the “ Redeemed Cap¬ 
tive,” as John Williams called himself, returned to Deerfield, a new 
house was built for him. This stands to-day, moved back from its 
original site, and is now behind Deerfield Academy, and owned by that 
institution. 

It was two stories high, with four rooms on a floor, and there was 
a secret staircase around the chimney, running from cellar to attic. 
Some say that Williams himself, remembering his capture, insisted 
upon this staircase, and that he himself furnished the funds for build¬ 
ing it. A shell top cupboard from this house is treasured in Memorial 
Hall. 

Original Lot No. 10, Deerfield, was drawn by Peter Woodward, 
Junior, together with lots 16 and 24, but apparently he never came to 
build on them. In 1674, they were sold to William Bartholomew, who 
before coming to this country, had attended in London the First Con¬ 
gregational Church of the Reverend John Lothrop, who later settled 



The Witches and Indians 


221 


in Barnstable. William’s son William lived in Deerfield, and presum¬ 
ably built the first house on Lot io. 

When on August 25th, 1675, sixty Indians suddenly appeared in 
the new settlement, Bartholomew’s wife and six children fled to Quen¬ 
tin Stockwell’s palisaded house, one of those early garrison houses 
almost always to be found in early New England settlements. This one 
was on Meeting House Hill. The Indians burned crops, and probably 
some of the houses then, but eleven days later, they made another 
attack, and six days later came what has always since been called the 
Bloody Brook Massacre, when Captain Lothrop and his little band 
were almost wholly exterminated. 

The Bartholomews then departed for more peaceful scenes, and in 
1685 s °ld the house to Daniel Belding. The Beldings lived here but 
a year when the Indians returned. Daniel, his son Nathaniel, and his 
daughter Esther, were taken prisoners, his wife and three other chil¬ 
dren killed, another child, Samuel, struck in the head but not killed, 
and his daughter Sarah managed to hide, while her sister, Abigail ran 
to the fort, and although wounded in the arm, escaped with her life. 

In 1698, the captives returned, but in 1704, Daniel’s second wife, 
his daughter Sarah, and her husband were taken prisoners, and never 
heard of again. 

The widower once more married, and in 1723 built another house. 
He also owned the lot next door where the Deerfield Inn was later 
opened. When Daniel Belding died, he left his house to his son 
Samuel. Samuel died in 1750, after a full share of adventures, and 
eleven years later, his heirs sold the house to Joseph Stebbins, Senior, 
husband of Lucy Frary. In or about 1772, he built what is still known 
as the Stebbins house, two stories and attic, with a high hipped roof, 
a fine private residence, filled with beautiful old furniture and other 
treasures. It is sometimes known as the Bunker Hill house, because 
from it Colonel Stebbins went to join the patriot forces at that battle. 
He also took part in the Battle of Saratoga, and in 1781, was com¬ 
missioned Lieutenant Colonel. The house has remained in the Stebbins 
family ever since. 



222 


6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


The old front door still has the original great iron hinges, more 
than three feet long. The house is large and square. At the left of the 
entrance is a room with great fireplace set in the wall paneled from 
floor to ceiling, with a bed press built into the wall. At the right, is 
the best room, with cupboards in the paneled wall on each side of the 
fireplace, and here is a portable bed press, with HL hinges. From the 
first room opens a small hall, whose outer door is hinged longitudi¬ 
nally, so that it may be folded back, and occupy less space. 

On the second story, one of the four rooms has a stencil border all 
around the floor, and although restored, it has been there for many 
years, perhaps since the house was built. 

There is a great attic, really two stories high, for there are two 
rows of windows in the gable ends of the high-pitched roof. This gar¬ 
ret used to be the spinning room, and Mrs. Sheldon tells that one 
afternoon, when Colonel Stebbins went up to the garret to see how 
many spinners were there at work, he found such a gathering of girls 
and women that, going downstairs, his report was such that a lamb was 
killed and roasted for supper. 8 

A great cellar, more than six feet high, extends beneath the entire 
house. 

The Henry house was built where, before 1693, stood one occupied 
by a man named Broughton. He, his wife and child were killed by 
the Indians in the first massacre, and the house was then occupied by 
the family of Lieutenant Wells, who had died three years earlier. His 
widow married the thrice married Daniel Belding, and was killed on 
the march to Canada. In 1790 a house was built on the site of the old 
one, which had been destroyed by the Indians, by David Dickenson, a 
major in the Continental Army. In this house was born the Reverend 
George H. Houghton, of New York’s “ Little Church Around the 
Comer.” 

On the site of the house of Joseph Barnard, Deerfield’s first town 
clerk, who was killed in 1695, a house still standing was either built 
in 1752, or one already there was enlarged and repaired by Captain 

3 Evolutionary History of a New England. Homestead, Mrs. J. M. Arms Sheldon. 



The Witches and Indians 


223 


Thomas Dickinson, commissary and officer in the Continental Army, 
appointed by Benedict Arnold, and alluded to previously. Just south 
of Captain Dickinson, lived at one time Dr. Thomas Williams, brother 
of the founder of Williams College. 

Godfrey Nims was another early settler, and built a house before 
1704. There were many soldiers in the family, but local histories do 
not give the fate of Godfrey. His wife and five of his children were 
killed in the massacre of 17045 two other children were captured, and 
carried off to Canada, but the eldest son escaped. Of the two little pris¬ 
oners, the following romantic tale is told. 

The son, Ebenezer, married Sarah Hoyt, presumably one of David 
Hoyt’s four children taken prisoners at the same time. They were try¬ 
ing to marry her to a Frenchman in Lorette, Canada, when she cried 
out that she would marry anyone of the band of captives. Ebenezer 
stepped forward and they were duly married. Mrs. Sheldon, in telling 
this story, adds that doubtless this was less spontaneous than it seemed on 
the surface, for the two might well have been boy and girl sweethearts 
back in Deerfield. 

However this may be, when in 1714 they had duly been “re¬ 
deemed,” and were about to return to New England with their child, 
the Indians begged them to remain, or if the elders would not do so, at 
least to leave the child with them. Of course the parents did not con¬ 
sent to this, and in due time the trio arrived in Deerfield, where, four 
years before, a new Nims house had been built. This remained in the 
family for more than two hundred years, and is still standing. 

Meanwhile, the other little Nims captive, Abigail, was taken to the 
French Catholic mission of Sault au Recollet. Josiah Rising, a small 
captive from Connecticut, was lodged in a house opposite that where 
lived Abigail. The children were baptized by the priest, and given 
the names of Elizabeth and Ignace. When Elizabeth was fifteen, the 
two were married, and six years later were given by the priests a tract 
of land on which, it is said, their descendants are living to this day. 

Just who was the Stephen Nims of whom Remembrance Sheldon 
tells the following is uncertain. At all events, he was one of the pris- 



224 Historic Houses of Early America 


oners taken in 1704 by the French and Indians, and carried off to Can¬ 
ada. After he was “ redeemed,” and returned to Deerfield, Remem¬ 
brance comments that whereas, before his captivity, he was “ small and 
puny, and over much given to books. Now on snow shoes he is tireless, 
he can outswim us all.” He was furthermore an expert trapper, of 
deadly aim with either gun or arrow, and “ I believe from two sticks he 
could kindle a fire in a deluge.” However, once when Remembrance 
questioned him as to his feelings toward his captors, he showed some 
dreadful scars on his toes, and declared that those scars were imprinted 
upon his heart, and that never, never would he forget. 

Mrs. Bunker was an early Deerfield landowner. In 1722, there 
was a house on her lot, owned at that time by the Widow Beaman, the 
school teacher. In 1694, her husband was a soldier at the fort, and 
while Mrs. Beaman was teaching school, a boy noticed the approach 
of Indians, and came to give the alarm. Mrs. Beaman gathered the 
children about her, and they all ran for the fort, and succeeded, de¬ 
spite arrows and bullets flying around them, in reaching it safely. 
Beaman was captured in the fighting of 1704, and carried off to Can¬ 
ada, but escaped. Probably this house on Mrs. Bunker’s lot was built 
soon after his return. 

When the widow sold it, it was purchased by the Allens. In 1737, 
there is record of an allowance paid to Samuel Allen for boarding a 
poor sick Indian boy and his mother. These two occupied a wigwam 
near the Allen house, and the Allens used to take food to the sick 
boy, and also kept his mother’s best blankets, moccasins, and supply of 
wampum in safety in their attic. The Indian boy finally died, and was 
buried near the Allen house. When war between France and England 
was imminent, thus involving the colonies, the Indian woman dug up 
the bones of her son, and with them and her belongings in a pack on 
her back, set out on the long journey northward. 

Eighteen months later, the families of Samuel Allen and John 
Hoyt were surprised by Indians while in the Deerfield hayfields. Five 
men were killed, one girl wounded, and one boy captured. The boy was 
Sammie Allen. He was carried off to Canada. 




The Maynards, Waban, Mass, 


The Frary house, Deerfield, Massachusetts. The oldest portion of this house, now an 
ell of the main building, and the Sheldon house were spared when the Indians burned 

Deerfield. 



The Willard house, Deerfield, Massachusetts. 







The Maynards, IT ah a n , Mass. 

The Williams house, Deerfield, Massachusetts. 'This was built for Parson Williams the 
“ Redeemed Captive,'” after he was ransomed from captivity in Canada, and returned 

to his home. It is now the property of Williams College. 







6 ?^ The Witches and Indians 


225 


After peace had been made, Sammie’s uncle, Sergeant Hawks, with 
a companion, 9et off on snowshoes through the cold winter weather for 
Canada, to find and redeem his little nephew and other captives. For a 
long time, he could find no trace of the boy, despite his offer to the 
French authorities of a ransom and a French officer in exchange. Then 
one day while Hawks was at Government House, the blanketed head 
of an Indian woman was thrust into the room, and almost instantly 
withdrawn. This action was repeated several times, until Hawks, sus¬ 
pecting something, followed the woman outside. 

“ You come for Sammie Allen? ” she asked him. “Indian woman 
know his father. Indian woman know his mother. Indian woman bring 
Sammie to white uncle.” 

She was as good as her word, and it then was learned that the child 
had been adopted, and treated as his own son, by an Indian whose own 
boy had died. At first, Sammie acted like a wild thing, did not know his 
uncle, or want to have anything to do with him. Gradually Hawks won 
him over, but uncle and nephew were closely guarded by the French 
until they could leave, for it was feared that the Indian would try to 
regain possession of his adopted son. The two finally reached Deerfield 
safely. 

Sammie’s home stands to-day; not the one from which he was 
stolen, for it was burned by the French and Indian allies, but another 
on the same site, probably built soon after the destruction of the first. 
It is solid, substantial, with a great fireplace, and has never been painted. 

The former owner of the lot on which stands the Willard house, 
now known as The Manse, was killed at Bloody Brook. Samuel Carter 
owned the first house which stood here in 1704, inside a stockade. His 
wife and several children were massacred, four other children carried 
off to be redeemed later by him for “ 24 pounds borrowed money.” 
Carter sold the house to Samuel Allen, and left Deerfield. The next 
owner after Allen was Samuel Barnard, of Salem, Massachusetts. He 
left the land to his nephew, Joseph, who spent thirteen years in select¬ 
ing timber with which he either built a new house, or added a new front 
to an older one, finishing it in 1768. The story that the ell was built 



226 


6 ?^ Historic Houses of Early America 


before 1694 cannot be true, for only one house and one ell, the house 
Ensign Sheldon’s, the ell the oldest part of the present Frary house, 
survived the conflagration of 1704, but it may have been built by Samuel 
Allen immediately after that disaster. 

As built or re-modeled by Joseph Barnard, it has a great fireplace 
in which logs six feet long can be burned, and the woodwork is beautiful. 

“ Lawyer Samuel ” Barnard inherited the property, and one Sunday 
morning, his three eldest daughters, “ all alike in blue-gray silk gowns 
and pink bonnets were married in the parlor, and went to meeting ” 
immediately thereafter. 

After eighty years, the Barnards sold the house. Dr. Willard, for 
many years pastor of the First Meeting House here, and for forty of 
those years partially or totally blind, lived in it save for a brief absence, 
from 1807 t0 1859. He has been called the Father of Unitarianism in 
New England. 

The “ Pink House,” which Mrs. Sheldon says once was red, was 
built about 1754, by Colonel David Field. He was a distinguished 
patriot at the time when Deerfield was a Tory stronghold, and her 
representatives to the first Assembly were of that persuasion. Later, 
many of the Tories changed their views, and at the outbreak of the 
Revolution the two parties were about equally divided. 

Field was chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of Safety, a 
delegate to the Provincial Constitutional Congress, and his store was a 
meeting place for the Patriots. In front of it they set up a Liberty Pole 
on July 29th 1774, as a boulder on the spot now commemorates. John 
Stebbins, the only man in Captain Lothrop’s band who escaped unhurt 
from the Bloody Brook massacre, lived here earlier. His house was 
burned in 1704, and a number of his children carried off to Canada. 

Four remained there when the others returned, and at least one 
daughter married a French Canadian. At the age of ten, her son was 
sent to Deerfield to visit his grandfather, and liked it so well that he 
remained. This boy’s name, Rene de Noyon, was changed by the Deer¬ 
field inhabitants, whether purposely or because they found it too dif¬ 
ficult to pronounce, to Aaron Denio, and as such he inherited his 



6 % The Witches and Indians 


227 


mother’s share of Stebbins’ property. That sturdy New Englander in 
his will stated that “ those who will not live in New England shall 
have five shillings apiece, and no more.” 

Aaron is the ancestor of the Deerfield Stebbins family. 

In the war of 1704, Brookfield, Middleborough and Dartmouth, 
Massachusetts, shared the fate of Deerfield, and were burned to the 
ground. Hadley was saved, although its inhabitants were taken by sur¬ 
prise, as they were observing Fast Day. They would probably have been 
routed, killed or made prisoners, had it not been for the sudden appear¬ 
ance among them of “ a venerable stranger of commanding aspect, 
clothed in black apparel of unusual fashion, his hair white from 
age.” 4 

The stranger rallied the frightened Hadleyites, formed them into 
something resembling military formation, and under his direction, so 
determined resistance was made that the Indians retreated, and Hadley 
was saved, whereupon the stranger disappeared. This was Edmund 
GoflFe, the regicide judge, then in hiding in the town. 

In 1744, Captain William Williams was directed by his uncle, 
Colonel Stoddard, in accordance with orders from Governor Shirley, 
to build a fort “ near the brook,” not far from the present town of 
Williamsburg. This was one of a chain of forts, and when completed 
was known as Fort Shirley. Fort Massachusetts, another of the same 
chain, was near the site of what is now North Adams. 

Fort Shirley was a block house twelve feet high, and for its build¬ 
ing “ pine trees at least a foot and a half through,” hand hewn, and 
smoothed to 14 by 6 inches were used. The fort was sixty feet square, 
and within its walls four great chimneys were built, and houses for 
officers, soldiers and their families. 

It was ready none too soon. The attack came in 1746 and, as at 
Deerfield, many were taken prisoners, among them the chaplain, Par¬ 
son Norton, who kept a diary. This was later published under the 
title: “ Redeemed Captive,” although that had already been used by 
the Reverend John Williams. It is said that of thirty-one in the fort, 

4 Edward Everett’s Address at Bloody Brook, South Deerfield, Mass. 1835. 



228 Historic Houses of Early America 


two were killed, the rest taken prisoners, and of the latter but fourteen 
returned from Quebec. 

In 1750 there was a settlement not far away, known as West 
Hoosac, whose inhabitants then were all soldiers from the fort, with 
their families. This settlement is the present Williamstown. When 
the Indians attacked “ Dutch Hoosac,” now Hoosac Falls, some of 
those in West Hoosac repaired to Fort Massachusetts for shelter, the 
others scattering throughout Connecticut. 

There are not many pre-Revolutionary houses in Williamstown. 
The Nehemiah Smedley house is one of them, although it was not 
finished until after war was over. Smedley had dug and finished his 
cellar with a kitchen in it, and had covered it with timbers, when the 
Revolution broke out. He thereupon stopped work on it, remarking: 
“ We will wait now and see who is going to own it.” Benedict Arnold 
is said to have lodged here. The cellar kitchen served the patriot 
cause, for in its great oven quantities of bread were baked, and sent to 
Bennington with Levi, eldest son of the Smedleys, for the Continental 
Army. 

Mr. Arthur Latham Perry, in his “ Origins of Williamstown,” 
says that he never found any record of the existence of a single Tory 
in Williamstown, not true of Deerfield, as has been stated. 

In his “ Boyhood Reminiscences,” published in 1895, Judge Dan- 
forth says that of five houses built before or shortly after the Revolu¬ 
tion in that section of Williamstown known as Buxton, and which were 
called u regulation houses,” not one remained standing. 





Chapter X 

)$5 New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen ^S$ 


O ne might expect to find many interesting old houses in New 
Bedford, that early fishing centre, but, oddly enough, this is not the 
case. Fine substantial dwellings line the old County Road, some of 
these much modernized, others but little changed, and a few survive 
on Water Street, down close to the harbor, but these are little more 
than a century old, and without special historic value. In the country 
outside of New Bedford, there are 18 th century houses, some occupied, 
others fast tumbling to ruins, but here, too, there is little historic in¬ 
terest connected with them. Many old houses in town and country 
were burned by the British, during the Revolution. 

As early as 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold u anchored in the bay of 
Cuttyhunkmoutermost, of the Elizabeth Islands,” at which time these 
were covered with forests and thickets. New Bedford was largely 
settled by well-to-do Friends, and was not incorporated as a town until 
1787. Union Street was first known as King, then Main, and the 
changes in name indicate the different epochs. Part of the present town 
was first used for village purposes in 1760. The first house east of the 
County Road, to-day a fine residential street, was built in 1761, by 
John Lowden, from Pembroke, Massachusetts. It was burned by the 
British in 1778. 

Until 1812, New Bedford and Fairhaven, across the river, formed 
one town. When they were divided, the former was strongly Federal 
in politics, the latter equally Democratic, and this difference hastened 
the separation. 


229 



2 3 ° Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


New Bedford was early prosperous, with “ portly nabobs, who 
wore broadcloth and beaver hats, and jeweled watch fobs,” although 
others were Quakers, and less finely clad. “ New Bedford captains 
were the embodiment of affluence.” 1 

When the British burned the town, Mr. Ricketson, another local 
historian, tells, a woman sat calmly knitting as the soldiers burst into 
her house, ate up her doughnuts, apple dumplings, etc. They then 
took coals from her hearth, and tried to set fire to the house, but she 
calmly extinguished the fire. Again they set fire and again she extin¬ 
guished it. As they were about to make the third attempt, they warned 
her not to try again to interfere, threatening her with death. The in¬ 
trepid woman was not obliged to face the alternative, for just then came 
orders from their commander for the soldiers to depart, so the house 
was saved. Its wealthy owner rewarded his brave tenant with a gift 
of five pounds of rice. 

Whale fishing, long New Bedford’s chief industry, began at an 
early date; shore fishing as early, it is said, as 1750. 

One mile, north of Central Village, part of Dartmouth, an old 
house built between 1660-77 stood until recently. This was the an¬ 
cient home of Restcome Potter, but by 1905 it had sunk to usage as 
a pig sty and hen roost. 

Another in this section, built in 1693 by Increase Allen, had been 
used in part as a chicken hatchery. In making some repairs and altera¬ 
tions not many years ago, a panel over an old mantel was accidentally 
touched in such a way that it moved, revealing a large compartment 
behind. This is thought to have been a hiding place for smuggled 
goods. 

The house on Round Hill Farm, near Dartmouth, dating from 
1727, was owned by Mrs. Hetty Green’s grandfather. At his death, 
the heirs arranged its transfer to one of the sons, Mrs. Green’s mother 
consenting. A picture shows a curious overhanging gambrel roof. 

Mrs. Green as a girl spent much time in New Bedford with her 
aunt, Sylvia Ann Howland, whose first will left all her property to 

1 Historic Bristol County, Mass., Frank Walcott Hull. 



6?^ New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen ^5 23 


charities. A second will presented later, left everything to her niece, 
and after a lawsuit, a compromise was effected. The Howland house 
has been torn down, but its fine old doorway is preserved in New Bed¬ 
ford’s Historical Museum, the gift of a former wealthy resident, the 
late Mr. Bourne. 

James Arnold, a wealthy New Bedford man, gave Boston her 
Arboretum. His residence passed to William Rotch, who covered the 
fine old solid mahogany doors with black walnut veneer, in the 
style of his day, and added a mansard roof. The house is now a 
club. 

The George East house, at the foot of Mill Street and Acushnet 
Avenue, stands, although it has not a look of age. The lot on which it 
was built was conveyed to East in 1780, and the house built about that 
time. It was at one period a tavern, popular with ministers. From its 
staircase, Jesse Lee preached the first Methodist sermon ever given in 
New Bedford. There is a remarkable tale to the effect that one min¬ 
ister’s wife used to climb these stairs and, through a scuttle in the roof, 
shout announcements of services to the people of Oxford, across the 
river. As proof of this tale, one may see the scuttle. 

Mr. Ricketson, in his early history of New Bedford, gives an in¬ 
teresting account of tea parties a century ago. He says: 

u The front room parlour and other front 1 keeping room ’ would 
be put in fine order, the Brussels carpets well swept, chairs, pier tables, 
large sofa studded with brass headed nails dusted.” The alabaster urns 
and silver candlesticks, snuffers and tray, the brass andirons support¬ 
ing burning logs must all be polished. The brass knocker announced 
the arrivals, and by four o’clock, the guests would proceed to the keep¬ 
ing room, and partake of u short biscuit rolls, quince marmalade and 
preserved plums, sponge and pound cakes.” The women guests gos- 
sipped together, the men talked politics, and by nine-thirty, all had 
gone home. 

The Dr. Tobey house in Acushnet, nearby, built about 1748, has 
a story connected with it. When the British troops visited it, they 
searched it for valuables, but the door leading down cellar when 



232 Historic Houses of Early America 


opened quite concealed that of the closet in which all the family treas¬ 
ures were hidden. This door escaped their notice, and so all were saved. 

Fairhaven across the river, historic though it is, offers no old houses 
of interest, but claims the honor of the first naval capture in the Revo¬ 
lution — Providence makes the same claim — when Lieutenant Na¬ 
thaniel Pope and Captain Daniel Egery captured two tenders of the 
British sloop, Falcon, on May 14th, 1775. 

Canton has some old houses in the farming country near the town, 
but none of special historic interest, although the oldest, that of John 
Fenna, was built as early as 1704. An Isaac Royall lived here in the 
early days, probably a nephew of the Royall who built the Medford 
mansion, for the latter had two brothers. 

Nantucket has long been qualified as “ quaint.” It was deeded in 
1641 by Lord Stirling to Thomas May hew, who later deeded it to 
men known as the “ ten original purchasers,” including Mayhew him¬ 
self. Each of these ten named another man to be associated in the 
company, Mayhew naming his son, and they two retained one tenth 
of the island. The terms of this transfer were £30 sterling and two 
beaver hats. Among these twenty men were four by the name of Coffin, 
Thomas Macy and two Starbucks. 

Oldest standing on the island, preserved by the Nantucket Oldest 
House Association, which has opened it as a museum, is the Jethro 
Coffin house, built in 1686 for Mary Gardner, daughter of Captain 
John Gardner, who, in 1706, was Chief Justice of the Island. Mary 
was engaged to be married to Jethro Coffin, and one father gave the 
land, the other father built the house for the young couple. 

It was substantial, with ships knees of oak fitted to floor beams, 
and uprights, with cedar laths, the original plaster made of ground up 
sea shells, later replaced by the modern kind. It is a story and a half 
in height, with an attic in the high-pitched roof, has two rooms on each 
floor, and a broad old door between the two front lower windows. 
The entire house was covered with shingles, but many of the original 
ones were torn off during the years when it was unoccupied, and even 
later others were ruthlessly removed for souvenirs. Now these have 



M 


The Hazard house, Newport, Rhode Island. Built before I JOO, this is the oldest house 

surviving in that city. 




“ Old Vernon House,” Clark Street, Newport, Rhode Island. This was the residence, 
during the Revolution, of General Rochambeau. 



























































. 

















































New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen ^§5 233 


been replaced, and a new roof added. Double walls, with hand split 
cedar laths, hand made nails, all the usual marks of a very old house, 
may still be admired. The wide planks of the floors, too, are the 
originals. 

On the second floor, in the larger of the two rooms a door opens 
into the “ Indian closet.” 

One night Jethro was absent from home, and his young wife and 
their infant son were sleeping in this room. Suddenly a noise aroused 
the young mother. From the closet emerged an Indian, and seating 
himself, he began sharpening a knife. Her fright may be imagined, 
but catching up her sleeping child, she made a dash for the stairs, the 
Indian following. She reached the lower door, and escaped, running 
for help to her father’s house. Help was forthcoming promptly, but 
when the men arrived at her house, they found the Indian in a drunken 
sleep. He had evidently hidden in the attic, and the noise which had 
awakened Mary was caused by his dropping down from the loose 
board floor of the attic into the closet. 

Deciding that he had really intended no serious harm, the men 
aroused the Indian , u gave him a lesson that he would remember,” and 
sent him off. 

A bad fire on the island, in 1846, destroyed many of its old houses, 
but among those which recently were still standing are the Caleb and 
Joseph Gardner house — probably Mary’s brothers — built in 1699, 
now known as the John C. Gardner house, and recently re-modeled, 
and Major Josiah Coffin’s, built in 1724. 

A house on Vestal Street was the birthplace in 1790 of the famous 
woman astronomer, Maria Mitchell, and it is now owned by the Maria 
Mitchell Memorial Association. Lucretia Mott was another celebrity 
born on Nantucket in 1793, and Walter Folger, astronomer and mathe¬ 
matician, lived here for a time. He invented and set in motion July 4th, 
1790, a remarkable astronomical clock, which recently was reported as 
still going, but no longer keeping good time, and no one knew how to 
regulate it. 

Still earlier in Nantucket history, Benjamin Franklin’s mother, 



234 Historic Houses of Early America 


Abiah Folger, was born here. Mar)' Starbuck, who married a Coffin, be¬ 
came the mother of the first white child born on the island. She was 
greatly loved by her neighbors and by the Indians as well, and, most 
unusual in those days, was a speaker who discoursed ably on public 
affairs. She died in 1719. 

Another Coffin, Miriam, born on Nantucket in 1723, was an exten¬ 
sive ship owner, and transacted her own business, but was tried for 
smuggling, and apparently there was no doubt that smuggle she did, 
on a large scale. 

One more Nantucket woman, Anna Gardner, born there in 1816, 
organized an anti-slavery meeting on the island, at which Fred Douglas 
made his first abolitionist speech. 

Martha’s Vineyard, deeded by Lord Stirling at the same time as 
Nantucket to Mayhew, has her share of old houses, some of which were 
standing a few years ago, and probably still are. 

In April, 1603, Martin Pring or Prynne entered Edgartown har¬ 
bor, and eight years later, Captain Harlow founded the first white 
settlement, consisting of four men. 

The old Mayhew house, on what is now South Water Street, was 
built in 1698 by Governor Thomas Mayhew. His son Thomas, Junior, 
became a minister. 

The Oliver Linton house has been said to date from 1615 merely 
because a brick with these figures on it was found in the chimney. It 
stands on East Chop. 

At Vineyard Haven is the Nye house, built in 1801 by Captain Seth 
Daggett, who was active in defense of this coast in 1776. He was fre¬ 
quently captured by the British, because of his ability as a pilot. One 
night, when they came to take him he escaped from his bed, and left 
the house in such haste that when he paused at a safe distance to don 
the clothing which he had not had time to put on before, he discovered 
that he had brought his wife’s garments instead of his own. 

Then there is the “ Great House,” built in 1721 by Isaac Chase, son 
of Lieutenant Isaac Chase, of the Royal Navy. 

At Huzzleton’s Head is the home of the Tory Daggett, where two 



6^ New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen ^5 235 


British officers were captured when they went to say farewell to their 
host. 

At Lambeth’s Cove is Captain Nathan Smith’s house. Once he saved 
his own and his neighbor’s cattle from the British by a clever ruse. A 
small detachment of the enemy had collected the cattle on the beach 
near Captain Smith’s house, until they were ready to drive them off. 
Smith hid in the bushes, and called out commands, as though at the 
head of a body of troops. The British ran off, leaving the cattle behind 
them. 

The Herman Vincent house at Chilmark was the former home of 
Deacon Simon Mayhew, member of the Continental Congress, a tutor 
at Harvard, and, when he died in 1782 at Chilmark, Chief Justice of 
Dukes County Court. Chilmark formerly bore the ugly name of Beetle 
Bung Corners. 

Martha’s Vineyard has its mysterious tale of pirate gold. A store of 
this is supposed to have been buried off Wasque Bluff, near the blue 
rock of Chappaquaddick. Many have tried to find this gold, but none 
has succeeded. Always some strange occurrence frightens the searchers 
away. Either a mysterious ghostly ship appears, with plank already 
extended for luckless victims to tread, or, if the searchers do succeed in 
touching the pot of gold, as they try to raise it will come a blinding 
flash of light, a cave in of soil, and the treasure has once more vanished. 2 

On East Chop a substantial old house, in its early days a tavern, was 
later open for summer boarders. Built by an old sea captain, it had a 
secret passage from attic to cellar. The captain, like many of his neigh¬ 
bors, engaged in smuggling, but the revenue officers never succeeded 
in catching him, capturing any wares, or even getting evidence enough to 
convict him. 

One morning they felt sure that they had him. They knew that 
smuggled goods were hidden in his house, and arrived early one morn¬ 
ing to search it. The captain and his family were at breakfast. 

“ Come in and have a bite,” he urged, and the revenue officers were 
nothing loth. They sat down, and their hostess must have been not only 

* Martha's Vineyard, By C. C. Hine. 



236 Historic Houses of Early America 


an excellent cook, but entertaining as well, for they lingered at table, 
and apparently did not notice when their host withdrew. When they 
finally rose, and proceeded to search the house, they found nothing. All 
of the goods had been lowered from attic to cellar, and carted off 
to a safe hiding place while they had been eating and talking. This 
house has been re-modeled, the great chimney and secret passage are 
gone. 

When the Massachusetts Colony summoned Roger Williams to 
appear before the authorities, intending, as he well knew, to send him 
back to England “ because he had drawn above twenty persons to his 
opinions, and they were intending to erect a plantation upon the Nar- 
ragansett Bay, from whence the infection would easily spread into these 
churches,” he sent word that it was not convenient for him to come, 
and fled from Salem through the forests, to an Indian lodge. There 
the chief, Massasoit, whom he had known in Plymouth, gave him 
shelter, and a grant of land, but finding it too near the Plymouth 
Colony for safety, he and four companions removed, as friendly Gov¬ 
ernor Winslow advised, “ to the other side of the water,” and settled 
where the city of Providence now stands. In 1648, one of his followers, 
William Coddington, the same who was obliged to leave his Quincy 
home, was elected President of the Rhode Island General Assembly. 

Until 1900, there stood in Providence the Roger Mowry tavern, in 
which Williams is said often to have held prayer meetings. Williams’ 
own house stood near the northeastern corner of North Main and How¬ 
land Streets, and here his eldest son was born in 1638, the first white 
boy born on Rhode Island soil. This house apparently was destroyed 
during some of the early Indian attacks. The homes of all Williams’ 
children are also gone, but in Roger Williams Park, on land once owned 
by his youngest son, Joseph, is the Betsey Williams cottage, built by 
one of Joseph’s descendants, Nathaniel, in 1773, for his son James, 
the father of Betsey. She lived here until her death in 1871, when the 
cottage and farm on which it stood passed by her will to the city of 
Providence for a public park. Joseph and others of the Williams family 
lie in their old burying lot on part of this property. 



6^ New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen ^5 237 


The houses built by two of the Brown brothers, and a third built by 
the son of the third brother, still stand in Providence. 

John Brown took a leading part in the Gaspee plot and attack upon 
the British schooner of that name, in 1772. In 1786, he built the fine 
house on Power Street which stands to-day. John Quincy Adams called 
this “ the most magnificent and elegant private mansion that I have 
ever seen on this continent.” 

In 1795-7? when the Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt was 
traveling in America, he wrote: “ The richest merchant in Providence 
is John Brown, brother to Moses, the Quaker. In one part of the town 
he has accomplished things that, even in Europe, would appear con¬ 
siderable. At his own expense he has opened a passage through the hill 
to the river, and has there built wharves, houses, an extensive distillery, 
and even a bridge, by which the road from Newport to Providence is 
shortened at least a mile.” At the end of this bridge Mr. Brown placed 
a statue of President Washington, “ whom he greatly admired .” 8 

The house is substantial, three stories in height, built of bricks 
brought from England in the builder’s own ships, and finished with 
mahogany from San Domingo. His architect brother, Joseph, planned 
it. Set high above the street, with lawns shaded by great elms, and a 
terrace extending along one side, solid mahogany gates admit to the 
grounds, and the handsome main entrance with its portico is sur¬ 
mounted by a beautiful window on the second story. Still a private 
residence, although no longer owned in the family, it contains a re¬ 
markable collection of Chippendale furniture and Shakesperiana. 

Many distinguished guests, including Washington, have been en¬ 
tertained in this old mansion, for in addition to being a very wealthy 
man, John Brown was prominent in all city affairs. He was interested 
also in Brown University, named after his brother Nicholas, who gave 
largely to it} he also sent the first ship, the George Washington, from 
Providence to the East Indies, and in the year 1789, appeared in public 
one day wearing a suit the cloth of which was made from the fleeces of 
his own sheep, as mentioned by William R. Staples, in his Annals of the 

3 Old, Providence, The Merchants National Bank of Providence. 



238 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Town. Mr. Staples adds that “ the yarn was spun by a woman eighty- 
eight years old,” and Mr. Brown did this to encourage the home manu¬ 
facture of clothing, duties on imported goods being then very high. 

He served two years in Congress, and was largely instrumental in 
securing the ratification of the Constitution of the United States by 
Rhode Island. This small state had been so tardy in taking this step 
that Washington refused to visit it, when he made his first tour in 1789. 

A. M. Eaton explains how Mr. Brown secured the ratification. “ On 
the day when the final vote of the Convention was to be taken, he 
secured the loss of one vote by the party opposed to the adoption of the 
Constitution by kindly lending his horse and chaise to a member from 
the country and elder of a church, in order that he might drive out and 
preach that day.” 

Joseph Brown, the architect, built his house at No. 72 South Main 
Street in 1774, and it is now occupied by the Providence National Bank, 
of which John Brown was first President. At the time that the French 
troops under Rochambeau were camped in and near Providence, await¬ 
ing their return to France, some of the officers were quartered in this 
house, which Joseph Brown gave up to them. An old chronicler de¬ 
clares that one day “ one of these gallant fellows, doubtless after a 
good dinner, and perhaps on a wager, rode his spirited charger up the 
flight of steps and into the spacious hall that leads through the house. 
The horse was unwilling to make the descent of the long, steep flight of 
steps, and was therefore taken through the great rear door of the hall 
into the grounds adjoining, where then stood a superb old pear tree, 
under which George Washington once sat, and regaled himself with the 
luscious fruit.” 4 

In Count Segur’s Memoirs, alluding to the period of French occu¬ 
pation, he says: “ M. de Rochambeau gave several balls and assemblies 
at Providence, which were attended by all the neighborhood within ten 
leagues of that city. I do not recollect to have seen anywhere an as¬ 
semblage in which a greater number of pretty women, and married 
people lived together happily — a greater proportion of beauty free 

4 Old Providence. 



New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen ^5 239 


from coquetry j a more complex mixture of persons of all classes, whose 
conduct and manners presented an equal degree of decorum, which 
obliterated all appearance of unpleasant contrast of distinction.” 

In addition to being an architect, Joseph Brown was professor of 
experimental philosophy in Brown University. 

Nicholas Brown did not build what is now known as the John Carter 
Brown house, opposite his brother’s, on the corner of Power and Benefit 
Streets, but purchased it in 1814. It was built more than twenty years 
earlier by Joseph Nightingale. It, too, is a large three-story brick house, 
set well above the street, the entrance gate being reached by a flight of 
steps. 

John Carter Brown inherited a large fortune from his father, 
Nicholas, and early in life began collecting books, sparing no time, 
money or journeys to accomplish his purposes. Soon after his father’s 
death, he took into partnership Thomas Poynton Ives, who had married 
his sister, and the firm of Brown and Ives was known and respected all 
over the world. Mr. Brown’s son, John Nicholas, succeeded to the 
house and collections, and on his death left the library, valued at over 
a million dollars, in charge of his executors, to be given to an educa¬ 
tional institution, provided the books were kept together and open to 
the public. He also left $150,000 for a building to house them. They 
were given to Brown University, and now are contained in the John 
Carter Brown Library of that college, to which, during his life, Mr. 
Brown also gave two buildings: Hope College, named for his sister, 
Mrs. Ives, and Manning Hall, named for its first president. 

Mr. Ives’ house on Power Street, built early in the 19th century, 
resembling in general style the Brown houses, also survives. 

Still standing, marked with a tablet, is the house in which lived 
Stephen Hopkins, the Signer, and where Washington was entertained. 
It is a plain frame building of two stories, and in its basement has been 
installed a shop. 

Stephen Hopkins was born in Providence, in 1707; was a mem¬ 
ber of the Legislature, Chief Justice of the first Supreme Court of 
Rhode Island, a member of the Continental Congress of 1774, and sev- 



240 


Historic Houses of Early America 


eral times Governor of his state. He was also the first Chancellor of 
Brown University. He built his house in 1742, down near the water, and 
it was moved to the present site in 1804. 

Soon after Boston was evacuated, Washington came to Providence. 
He, his staff and General Gates “ were invited to an elegant enter¬ 
tainment at Hacker’s Hall, provided by the gentlemen of the town, 
where, after dinner, a number of patriotic toasts were drunk. The town 
authorities considered, and decided that no place of entertainment was 
so appropriate as Governor Hopkins’ house. The master of the house 
was in Philadelphia, but his daughter, Ruth, was at home; and when 
the town representatives brought General Washington, Ruth calmly 
set herself to making her guest comfortable. Many were the sugges¬ 
tions, if tradition may be relied on, that were offered to Ruth Hopkins 
by her anxious neighbors. Silver was tendered, and linen, food and 
china, but to all these overtures Ruth turned a deaf ear, asserting, with 
all respect to her distinguished guest, that what was good enough for 
her father was good enough for General Washington. (* She adored 
her father,’ a dear old soul added.) The room where Washington slept 
became from that day an historic place, and it was counted a great 
privilege to sleep in it.” 5 

Washington visited the house again in 1781, when its host was at 
home. Moses Brown told of this visit: “ I was with him (Hopkins) 
sitting, when General Washington by himself alone called to see him. 
I sat some time, viewing the simple, friendly and pleasant manner ” 
in which a these two great men met and conversed with each other on 
various subjects.” And again, when on another occasion Mr. Brown saw 
Washington, he spoke of the latter’s easy, simple manner, u very like 
that of Stephen Hopkins.” 6 

No likeness of Hopkins has come down to us. For Trumbull’s 
group of the Signers, his face was sketched from that of his son. He 
went to Philadelphia to help draw up the Declaration of Independence, 
and when he signed it his hand shook with palsy, but he remarked: 
“ My hand trembles, but my heart does not.” 

The home of Esek Hopkins, Stephen’s brother, and the first Com- 

* Old Providence. 6 Quoted in Old Providence. 



6$^ New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen ^5 24.1 


mander-in-chief of the American Navy, was given to the city of Provi¬ 
dence in 1907. It is, like his brother’s, unpretentious, a two-story frame 
house with a long, low wing. 

Esek Hopkins, born in 1718, was appointed to naval command in 
1775. Under him was Abraham Whipple, with the Columbus, another 
claimant for the honor of having fired the first cannon and taken the 
first naval prize in the American Revolution. 

Hopkins sailed for Philadelphia soon after his appointment, on the 
Kay; captured a small craft, and took a few prisoners. He wrote from 
Philadelphia: “ Our seamen arrived here day before yesterday. Those 
concerned in the naval department are highly pleased with them. Their 
arrival gives fresh spirit to the whole fleet.” 

The Commodore or Admiral (both titles were used in alluding to 
Hopkins), “ received orders to locate and attack the enemy’s ships in 
Chesapeake Bay. From there he was to proceed to Rhode Island to de¬ 
stroy the British fleet. . . . Disaster attended the expedition from first 
to last. Sickness spread among the crew, and there were many cases 
of smallpox. Heavy gales from the northeast began to blow. The har¬ 
bors were occupied by the enemy. Commodore Hopkins used the dis¬ 
cretion which his orders left to him, and sailed for New Providence in 
the Bahamas, where he seized cannon and some small stores of ammuni¬ 
tion, loaded his ships, and started north again, capturing on the way two 
small vessels, loaded with arms and stores. The next morning he en¬ 
countered the British frigate Glasgow. After a desperate encounter in 
which the American ships were partially disabled, the Glasgow escaped. 
No blame was attached to Commodore Hopkins for this episode.” John 
Paul Jones highly praised his commander, and “ John Hancock, on be¬ 
half of Congress sincerely congratulated Hopkins,” but this was the 
beginning of nothing but trouble for him. His enemies did not rest until 
they had secured his dismissal in 1778 by Congress from the naval 
service of his country. 7 

In spite of this injustice, Hopkins declared: “ I am determined to 
continue a friend of my country, neither do I intend to remain inactive.” 

He became a member of the Rhode Island Legislature, was ap- 

7 Old Providence. 



242 Historic Houses of Early America ^9 


pointed to her Council of War, and won the title of “ the inflexible 
patriot.” He lived to be almost eighty-four years old. 

This by no means exhausts the list of fine old houses in Providence, 
but gives the oldest survivors. 

The exact age of the Hazard house, Newport, probably the oldest 
surviving, is not known. Some assert that the oldest part was built be¬ 
fore 1700. The first recorded owner was Stephen Munford at the time 
that he transferred the house to “ Richard Ward, Gentleman.” 

John Ward, an officer in Cromwell’s Army, came to America after 
the Restoration, whither his son Thomas had already preceded him. 
The latter was General Treasurer of the Colony, and its Deputy-Gov¬ 
ernor. Richard was the son of this Thomas, and he was Colony Secre¬ 
tary, and from 1740 to 1743 Governor. It was before 1749 that Richard 
owned the house, for in that year it was the property of Samuel Mar- 
ryatt, w taylor,” chiefly distinguished in the annals of the town by the 
fact that his daughter, Betsey, lived to be one hundred and one years 
old. 

After Marryatt, it was owned by several men; one, Martin Howard, 
Junior, a lawyer and member of Trinity Church, was a Tory, as was his 
wife, great-granddaughter of William Brenton, one of the original 
settlers here. In 1765, Martin Howard, Thomas Moffatt and Augustus 
Johnston were appointed Stamp Masters. Feeling at the time being 
what it was, this made the men very unpopular, and soon after their 
appointment a mob dragged their effigies, with ropes around their necks, 
in a cart through the town, hanged the effigies, and later tore them down 
and burned them. The following day, Howard’s house was attacked. 
He took refuge on H.M.S. Cygnet, lying in Newport harbor, but 
the mob smashed his furniture and china, ruined valuable family por¬ 
traits, tore out the woodwork, and even put ropes around the old chim¬ 
ney, and tried to pull it down. It was too stoutly built for them, and 
resisted their efforts. They also attacked the houses of the other two 
Stamp Masters. 

Howard went to England, and was later awarded damages for his 
destroyed property. In 1770, he was appointed Chief Justice of North 



New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen ^5 243 


Carolina, and again was the victim of a mob, but remained at his post 
until 1777, when he returned to England, and died there. 

Before 1772, the old Newport house was sold, this time for £210 
to John Wanton, who spent £60 in repairing it. 

Wanton was the son of Governor Gideon Wanton, and there were 
four governors in this family in the Colonial period. They became 
Quakers after an ancestor, an officer, witnessed the execution of several 
members of that faith, and is said to have declared to his family that 
he believed them to be men of God. 

John Wanton was a member of the General Assembly, and one of 
the incorporators of Rhode Island College at Warren, in 1764. The 
college was afterwards removed to Providence, and re-named Brown 
in honor of a lavish benefactor, Nicholas Brown. 

The Hazard house stands on what was known as Bull’s Gap, near 
the old Governor Bull house, burned to the ground twenty years ago. 
Originally this old survivor stood on a level with the street, from which 
it is now reached by a flight of steps. The oldest part probably con¬ 
sisted of two rooms on each of the two floors, and a kitchen in the rear. 
Here may be seen the massive hand hewn timbers, and the great fire¬ 
place in the solid chimney which the mob vainly tried to pull down. An 
attic and high-pitched roof top the house. 

In 1782, additions were made in the rear by John Wanton, and the 
fine paneling in the front rooms was probably put in by him when he 
bought the house, which had been partly wrecked five or six years 
before. 

On the steps of the renovated old house, his daughter, Polly, is 
said to have stood and watched the arrival of the French troops, escorted 
by Americans under General Heath. Among the American officers was 
young Daniel Lyman. The two exchanged glances and, according to the 
story, fell in love at first sight. 

At all events, they had many occasions for meeting. The Wanton 
house hospitably entertained the French and American officers quartered 
in town, and was none the less popular for the fact that Mrs. Wanton 
had both a daughter and a beautiful niece. A diamond-written inscrip- 



244 Historic Houses of Early America 


tion on one of the window panes long survived: “ Charming Polly 
Wanton.” Years ago, Lyman’s daughter Eliza wrote her “Remi¬ 
niscences of Newport Before and During the Revolution, by a Lady,” 
and remarks: 

“ I have heard Mrs. Wanton say she frequently had one of these 
young officers on each arm of her chair, and another hanging on the 
back; she had a pretty daughter and a niece living with her. f Madame 
Wanton, you have one beautiful niece,’ one of the French officers re¬ 
marked, and then recollecting the daughter, added with true French 
politeness:* And your daughter has a very cunning look.’ ” 

“ Charming Polly ” with “ the cunning look ” married young Ly¬ 
man, by that time a Major, in 1782. 

The following year, John Wanton deeded the house to his daugh¬ 
ter. Lyman made a number of improvements in it, changed the roof, 
added four rooms, two on each floor in the rear, bought additional land, 
and built an office, in which he practised law. The Lymans and the 
Wanton parents all lived in the old house, and here thirteen children 
were born to the young couple. 

Daniel Lyman soon became prominent. He built a stone bridge 
which was three years in building, between Newport and the mainland. 
He became Chief Justice, and was a delegate to the Hartford Con¬ 
vention. 

The Lyman’s second daughter, Harriet, married a Hazard, and 
about this time her father deeded the Newport residence to her, and 
removed to Providence, where he purchased an estate known as The 
Hermitage, in Smithfield, and lived there until his death. 

Harriet Hazard was the mother of nine children, and the widow 
of her son Benjamin, last of the name to occupy the house, lived there 
until her death in 1875. 

The Newport Historical Society has been conducting an active cam¬ 
paign for the purchase and restoration of the old house, which at the 
time of writing seems practically certain of success, so doubtless within 
a few months, the historic dwelling will be opened to the public. 

Until quite recently, several interesting old houses survived in 



New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen 245 


Pawtucket, but these have gradually yielded to modern demands, until 
now but one venerable survivor may be found. This, the Daggett house, 
is the property of the City, and the Pawtucket Chapter of the Daugh¬ 
ters of the Revolution is its permanent custodian. Although it has not 
the romantic history of some houses already mentioned, it is of interest 
for several reasons, and especially because of the relics here preserved. 
Yet it has a history. 

John Doggett, as the name was then written, who founded the 
family in America, probably came over with Governor John Winthrop 
in 1630. He first went to Salem, applied to be made a freeman, and this 
being granted the following year, participated in the “ fourth Great 
Dividend ” of lots, and acquired thirty acres in what is now Cambridge, 
later increasing this tract. 

When, in 1641, the Earl of Stirling granted Nantucket, Martha’s 
Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands to Thomas Mayhew, Doggett was 
interested, and in 1642 began making plans to remove with his family 
to Martha’s Vineyard. He changed his plans, and instead located in 
Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where the site of the present house was then 
situated. In 1648, as old records show, he was appointed surveyor of 
highroads here, and it is believed that he built his first house about that 
time. Soon afterwards, he left his son, John, installed in it, and moved 
to Martha’s Vineyard. In 1652, he was laying out highways in Edgar- 
town, but died in Plymouth. 

The son John was born in England, but came to this country as a 
little child. He was always associated with Rehoboth’s history, as he 
married there, filled his father’s old office of surveyor of highways, 
and died there in 1707. It was in Martha’s Vineyard that the name was 
first written Daggett. 

During King Philip’s War, the first house with others of the town 
were burned by the Indians, and the one now standing was built by the 
second John Daggett in 1685. Almost in sight of this spot Roger Wil¬ 
liams and his companions had camped in 1635, believing themselves 
outside the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, but not until years later did 
Rehoboth become part of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. 



246 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


In 1790, the Daggett house was re-modeled, and since the Daugh¬ 
ters of the Revolution became its guardians, it has been repaired, 
restored, and is now filled with interesting and valuable collections j 
furniture, china, glass, portraits, historical documents, Revolutionary 
firearms, swords, utensils, etc. It has a great chimney, with big fireplaces, 
and in the attic is a secret chamber, whose existence, it is said, used to 
be made known to but one member of the family in each generation. 
Built between the walls, the entrance is concealed behind the great 
chimney, which was built of bricks brought as ballast in ships from 
Holland. 

With the tearing down of several old houses, some of the relics here 
acquired additional value. For instance, on one of the four-post beds 
in an upper room is a counterpane owned by the first Mrs. Samuel 
Slater, and another owned by the second of that name. Here, too, are 
a clock and pieces of Royal Worcester china owned by Samuel Slater, 
so prominent in the history and development of Pawtucket, as well as 
a set of china owned by General Nathaniel Green of Revolutionary 
fame, whose home was at Coventry, Rhode Island. 

Pawtucket should not be left without some reference to the man 
who founded it, Joseph Jenks, Junior. The old frame house of one of 
his sons, Nathaniel, was standing ten years ago on North Main Street. 
Unfortunately, it has gone, with other early houses belonging to this 
family. 

Joseph Jenks, Senior, founded in Lynn, Massachusetts, the first 
important colonial iron works in 1642, setting up a foundry, under the 
supervision it is said of Governor Winthrop, with whom he came from 
England. His son Joseph came through the forests to Pawtucket Falls, 
and in 1655 set up a forge on the south side, building himself a house 
near what is now East Avenue. It was through his representations to 
Governor Cranston that one of the earliest bridges in the country was 
built near the Falls, in 1713. This bridge was for years a bone of con¬ 
tention between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, both colonies claim¬ 
ing the territory near the two ends. Once it was torn down, and Wil¬ 
liam Jenks, who had assisted in this work, re-built it in 1735, receiving 



New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen 247 


£100 for his work. Not until 1860 did all of Pawtucket, including what 
had been Rehoboth, belong to Rhode Island, in exchange for her re¬ 
linquishing other territory, including Fall River, to Massachusetts. 

Joseph Junior’s sons became distinguished. The third Joseph was 
Governor of Rhode Island from 1727 to 1742; Nathaniel was a major 
in the army; Ebenezer a preacher; William a judge. It was the Major 
who built the house which stood until recently. He took an active part 
in defending Pawtucket from Indian attacks, and many stories of his 
unusual strength have come down, such as that he “ lifted a forge 
hammer weighing 500 pounds, together with seven men thereon,” and 
“ at another time he (on his hands and knees) lifted upon his back 
timber judged to weigh 3,000 pounds.” 8 

In 1775, Captain Stephen Jenks patented and began the manufac¬ 
ture of muskets for the militia companies of the colony, and under the 
Jenks patents, others were made during the Revolution. Jenks also sup¬ 
plied 10,000 muskets to the American troops for the War of 1812. 

Less than ten years ago, there stood on North Main Street the house 
occupied by Samuel Slater, Senior, who founded the first Sunday school 
in America. But he was also one of the first industrial men in Pawtucket, 
following Stephen Jenks and his foundry. His house has now been torn 
down. 

Samuel Slater was apprenticed as a boy to the owner of a cotton 
mill in Belper, England, and after rising to be superintendent, emi¬ 
grated to America at the age of twenty-one, believing that there he 
should find greater opportunities. First employed in New York, he 
there learned of Moses Brown, wealthy Providence merchant, and of 
the latter’s recent establishment in Pawtucket of a mill, where he hoped 
to spin cotton. Slater wrote to Mr. Brown: “ I flatter myself that I can 
give the greatest satisfaction in making machinery,” and eventually an 
interview was arranged. 

u Mr. Brown, in relating the first interview with Samuel Slater, 
said: “ When Samuel saw the old machines, he felt downhearted with 
disappointment, and shook his head, and said: “ These will not do; 

8 Pawtucket, Past and Present, The Slater Trust Co. 



248 Historic Houses of Early America 


they are good for nothing in their present condition, nor can they be 
made to answer.” 

“ 1 Thee said/ urged Moses Brown, * that thee could make ma¬ 
chinery. Why not do it? 1 ” 

The young Slater agreed to try to make machinery according to 
the Arkwright models which had been used in the English cotton mill, 
saying that “ if I do not make as good yarn as they do in England I 
will have nothing for my services, but will throw the whole of what I 
have done over the bridge.” 

With only memory to aid, he began work in a shop near Joseph 
Jenks’ original forge. 

“ His pay was a dollar a day. The windows of the small shop where 
he worked were shuttered and the doors barred, and every effort was 
made to keep the project secret. His patterns were made of wood, and 
the motive power was furnished by a wheel, laboriously turned by a 
negro, named Primus. Sylvanus Brown was employed as the wood¬ 
worker, and David Wilkinson furnished the iron-work. Every fore¬ 
noon, Moses Brown, in a carriage drawn by a span of horses and driven 
by a colored man, rode over from Providence to see how things were 
getting on. Hannah Wilkinson, daughter of Oziel Wilkinson, in whose 
house Slater boarded, later became Mrs. Slater, and it is recorded that 
she caught her first glimpse of the young mechanic by peering cautiously 
through the keyhole of his workshop, and that Samuel Slater, on turn¬ 
ing, found looking at him a pair of roguish eyes and at once loved their 
owner and vowed to win her.” 

He worked on, and when he finished the models, Moses Brown 
told him: “ Samuel, thee has done well! ” 

An agreement of partnership to engage in u the spinning of cotton 
by water,” was drawn up between Slater, William Almy and Smith 
Brown, the last two young men those who had previously been trying 
to spin cotton with the machinery which Slater had condemned. So much 
yarn was spun with the new machinery that in 1792 much remained 
unsold, and there occurred the first panic in the American Market over 
cotton yarns. Moses Brown was alarmed. “ Thee must shut down thy 



6?^ New Bedford, and the Early Fishermen ^5 249 


wheels, Samuel, or thee will spin all my farms into cotton yarn,” he 
declared. 

Slater made a large fortune, but by working hard. He used to say: 
“ Sixteen hours a day, Sundays excepted, for twenty years has been no 
more than fair exercise.” 

To his wife, Hannah, is due the beginning of the cotton thread in¬ 
dustry in this country. She spun cotton yarn, and with the help of her 
sister, twisted it on her spinning wheel, making a good grade of thread. 
Trying this, the two women found it as strong and good as the linen 
thread which they had been using. In 1794, Samuel Slater began manu¬ 
facturing cotton thread. 9 

The Wilkinson family, of which Hannah was a daughter, were in¬ 
ventors. Oziel at an early date made ship anchors, and by 1791 was 
making steel which Moses Brown pronounced equal to the English 
product. David Wilkinson made the engine for an early steamboat, and 
with Elijah Ormsbee, made a trip in this from Pawtucket to Providence 
and back. Lack of funds prevented the development of their idea, but 
this was ten years before Robert Fulton sailed his steamboat on the 
Hudson River. David invented a screw machine and a side lathe, which 
latter, when patented, brought him but ten dollars. After half a cen¬ 
tury, Congress voted him $10,000 as partial remuneration. OziePs 
foundry turned out the machinery used for pressing out sperm oil in 
Nantucket and New Bedford, made many iron tools, and also the iron¬ 
work for a number of early bridges. David Wilkinson continued the 
business after his father, Oziel, died, and until 1829, since w'hen it 
has continued under different firm names to the present day. 

9 Pawtucket, Past and Present, The Slater Trust Co. 



Chapter XI 

Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns 


A 

trip to Marblehead, quaintest of old towns, with its narrow 
crooked streets, will well repay one. 

The place was given its name because of the “ marble stone ” on all 
sides of the harbor, as early as 1629. Two years later, Isaac Allerton 
came here from Plymouth, and established a fishing station. The fish¬ 
ermen soon acquired a reputation for hard drinking, and for a long 
time had no church, being “ too remiss to found one,” as the Plymouth 
colonists complained. 

The first settlement was at Peach’s Point, near Little Harbor, and 
here in a cove was built Marblehead’s first ship, the Desire, third to 
be built in the Massachusetts Colony. 

Many are the old houses of historic interest still standing in the 
old town, but they are not open to the general public. 

Not far from the old burial ground is one known as the Old Brig. 
Built in 1650, this belonged to ci Old Dimond,” grandfather of Moll 
Pitcher, and in this house she is said to have spent her girlhood. Old 
Dimond was a skipper, and believed by his fellow townsmen to have the 
power of foretelling events, locating criminals, etc. “ When the night 
was dark and stormy, and the wind gave evidence of blowing a gale, 
old Dimond would find his way to the burying hill, and there among the 
graves and tombstones, would ‘ beat about,’ and give orders for the 
management of his vessels at sea in a voice loud and clear, distinctly 
to be heard above the roar of the tempest.” He is said to have named 


250 



($${ Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns 251 

the thieves when various goods were stolen, and to have given other 
evidences of his mystic powers. 

Mary, his daughter, Moll’s mother, had the reputation of being if 
not a witch, at least rather nearly one. She told fortunes, and eventu¬ 
ally left for Lynn, where she practised her fortune telling. Local his¬ 
tories do not say that she took her daughter with her; on the contrary 
Moll seems to have spent her girlhood in the Old Brig, with her grand¬ 
father. 

Although superstitious, like most fisherfolk, during the Danvers- 
Salem witchcraft delusion, Mammy Red was the only witch produced 
by Marblehead, nor, although they had long suspected her of witch¬ 
craft, did her fellow townsmen accuse her. It remained for the Salem- 
ites to do this, and hang her with the others, on Witch Hill. 

On the grounds of a house a century and a half old, now owned by 
the Misses Scott, Captain Kidd is said to have had a shanty. 

In Marblehead still stands the former home of Skipper Ireson, as 
does that of Azor Orne, who loaned the Continental Congress a barrel 
of silver dollars. That of “ King ” Hooper, noted for his magnificent 
entertainments, is now used by the Y.M.C.A. Over the front entrance 
used to hang Hooper’s coat of arms, and the house was very fine, with 
a banquet hall in the upper story, and one room finished like a ship’s 
cabin. Hooper’s country place at Danvers was for a time used as head¬ 
quarters by General Gage. 

The beautiful old house on Washington Street, home of Colonel 
Jeremiah Lee, was at the time of its erection in 1768, considered one of 
the largest and most costly in New England. Built of bricks covered 
with clapboards, much of the material was brought from England. It 
had fifteen rooms, with hand carved cornices, and a remarkably beau¬ 
tiful staircase, so wide that four or five persons could walk abreast on 
it, and with finely carved bannisters and hand rail of mahogany. Mahog¬ 
any was also used for wainscoting. On the walls of one room may still 
be seen one of the early wall papers, depicting the ruins of ancient 
Rome. 

Colonel Lee, Elbridge Gerry, Senior, who was born in Marblehead, 



252 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


and Azor Orne, were all members of the Committee of Safety and 
Supplies. One night, the three met at the Black Horse Tavern, near 
Cambridge, and as their business occupied them until late, they decided 
to spend the night at the tavern. By doing so they had a narrow escape, 
for in some way the British troops, on their way to Lexington, learned of 
the proximity of the three patriots, and determined to capture them. 

Fortunately for the Committee, news of this plan leaked out, and 
the sleeping men were awakened and warned. They escaped, but with¬ 
out time to dress, and hid in the bushes not far away, while the soldiers 
searched for them in vain. After the British departed, the three re¬ 
turned to the tavern, but Lee died three weeks later, as a result of the 
exposure. He left the sum of £5,000 to the American treasury, which 
must have been a welcome addition to the patriots’ scanty funds. 

Mrs. Lee occupied the house until her death, after which it was for 
a time the residence of Judge Sewall. 

An old house with a single corner of the second story projecting 
oddly, is known as the Lafayette house because that general was twice 
entertained there. Parson Barnard’s, built in 1716 still stands, but now 
divided into two separate dwellings. 

Brigadier General Glover’s large square residence not far from the 
street following the shore, is set aslant towards a narrow side street on 
which it faces. Glover had the honor of rowing Washington in the 
memorable crossing of the Delaware, and served with distinction at 
Valley Forge and on Long Island. 

Washington visited Marblehead in 1789, to the delight of the in¬ 
habitants, their only regret being that because of poverty, they were 
unable to entertain their President as they felt he should be entertained. 
At the time, they had 459 widows and 865 orphans dependent on the 
town for support, so their poverty was very real, and later lotteries 
were held for the Marblehead poor. 

Of course interest attaches to this town because it was the scene of 
the beginning of the romance of Agnes Surriage and Sir Harry Frank- 
landj a romance which lasted to the death of that nobleman, long after 
he had married the woman who, at the risk of her own life, saved his 



Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns ^5 253 


during the Lisbon earthquake. No children survived, and at Frankland’s 
death, he left his property to his wife, including a magnificent place 
not far from Boston. On her death, she willed this to her sister, Mrs. 
Swain, who in turn left it to her son. From him, it passed to Agnes’ 
brother, Isaac, who sold it. 

The birthplace of Elbridge Gerry is in excellent condition, a private 
residence. One of the framers of the Constitution, he later refused to 
sign that document as drawn up, declaring that it gave too much power 
to the Federal Government. Gerry was a Member of Congress, com¬ 
missioner to France, Governor of Massachusetts and Vice-President of 
the United States. 

Returning inland, at Topsfield is the Parson Capen house, carefully 
restored, with its interior of wooden sheathing, and huge fireplace. The 
Reverend Joseph Capen married one of the wealthy Appleton family 
of Ipswich, and it is said that the bride did not like the parsonage, so he 
built her this new house, with a studded door like Deerfield’s “ Indian 
door.” The house is now a museum. 

In Ipswich, several old houses claim attention. Most attractive is 
the Olde Burnham, now open as an inn, and already described in another 
work by this author. 1 

Close to the railway station is the Whipple house. 

The Reverend Thomas Franklin Waters, who has made a study of 
old houses in Ipswich and elsewhere, doubts that any of the survivors 
were built before the middle of the 17th century. 2 The early settlers, 
he remarks, found this part of the country a wilderness, and built houses 
like all pioneers, of logs, or hand hewn timber, covered with clay. The 
first permit for a saw mill in Ipswich was not issued until 1649, an d all 
locks, hinges and nails were hammered out by the local blacksmith. 

John Whipple owned the lot, and there was a house on it in 1642, 
as the town records show, for he bought it in that year from John Fawn, 
who was removing to Haverhill. In 1669, Whipple’s son, John, suc¬ 
ceeded to the property, and Mr. Waters believes that the son built 

1 Early American Inns and Taverns. 

2 Some Old IfsvAch Houses, Rev. Thomas Franklin Waters. 



254 6 ^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


the present house either in 1669, or at least before 1683. The western 
portion is the oldest. 

The first John Whipple was u admitted to be a freeman ” in 1640, 
in Ipswich. In the same year, he was a deputy to the General Court, was 
one of the first Seven Men, as the selectmen were called, served on a 
committee appointed to further trade, and on another to promote the 
interests of the fishing business j was a deacon, and later a Ruling Elder. 

The second John was a soldier, and in 1662 secured a license to 
“ still strong water for a year, and to retail not less than a quart at a 
time, and none to be drunk in his house,” an early application of the 
present Canadian liquor law in Massachusetts. He further built a malt 
house. In 1674, he served as representative to the General Court, in 
King Philip’s war, went as lieutenant and later was made captain. As 
he became one of Ipswich’s wealthiest men, he probably added the 
handsome eastern room, with massive carved summers, of the present 
house, doubling its size. The inventory of his possessions at his death 
shows him to have owned feather beds, u serge curtains, vallance and 
coverlid ” for one or more beds, valued at £19 a set, leather and carved 
chairs, silver and pewter. 

His son, Major John, added a leanto to the old house, and probably 
an attic above. He had two slaves, a negro man and woman, Tom and 
Flora, and there is mention of their marriage. The third John had no 
son to succeed him, but the three of his six daughters who grew to 
womanhood all married ministers, and one of these, Benjamin Crocker, 
the husband of Mary, with his wife succeeded to the old house. 

In 1898, the Ipswich Historical Society purchased the old house, 
and also bought and removed some of the modern buildings near it. 
They tore off plaster, and brought to view the original sheathing j 
found the positions of the old casement windows, opened the old fire¬ 
places, and have furnished the house with gifts of portraits, furniture, 
etc. of the proper period which have been sent by interested friends. A 
portion is now open as a museum to the public. 

Another old Ipswich house, on the corner of Market and Central 
Streets, was built about 1707, by Colonel John Appleton. He was Chief 



6^ Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns ^§5 255 


Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, for thirty-seven years a Judge of 
Probate, and a Deputy Councillor. This was one of the finest houses in 
town, distinguished for elegance and hospitality. In 1676, when An¬ 
dover was in danger of attacks by Indians, Captain John Appleton hur¬ 
ried there with sixty men, thus causing much complaint, for Ipswich 
citizens felt that their own safety was thereby imperilled. In 1716, 
Governor Shute, on his way to New Hampshire, was entertained here. 
Colonel John’s son, Daniel, was also a Colonel, Judge of the Court of 
Sessions, and Registered Probate Judge. Another Probate Judge, Daniel 
Noyes, succeeded to the ownership of the house, and finally the anti¬ 
quarian, Abraham Hammatt, bought and re-modeled the old resi¬ 
dence. 

It contains a dark closet which for years was pointed out as the 
hiding place of one of the Regicides, but a later authority pronounces 
this preposterous. 

Still another old Ipswich house is that built in 1728 by Nathaniel 
Wade, who served with honor in the Revolutionary Army. When 
Benedict Arnold turned traitor to the American cause, Wade was ap¬ 
pointed to take command of West Point, Washington saying: “We 
can trust him.” The Wade family possesses the original order giving 
this command to their ancestor. 

Mr. Waters quotes in full a letter giving instructions for the build¬ 
ing of a farmhouse at the same period that the early Whipple home 
was built, and practically the same kind of house. The owner, Deputy 
Governor Symonds, wrote in 1637: “I am indifferent whether it be 
30 foote long, 16 or 18 foote broad. I would have wood chimneyes at 
each end, the frames of the chimneyes to be stronger than ordinary, to 
beare a good heavy load of clay for security against fire. You may let 
the chimneyes be all the breadth of the house if you thinke good — Be 
sure that all the doorwaies in every place be soe high that any man may 
goe vpright and under. The staires had best be placed close by the door. 
It makes no great matter though there be noe particion vpon the first 
floore, if there be, make one biger than the other. For windowes let 
them not be over large in any roome, and as far as conveniently may 



256 Historic Houses of Early America 


be I would have the house strong in timber though plaine and well 
brased.” On the second story it was to have a “ particion.” He con¬ 
tinues: “ I think it best to have the walls without to be all clapboarded 
besides the clay walls.” 3 

One gets a quaint picture of early Ipswich. “ Working cattle were 
allowed to roam in the Commons at night, and on Sundays and wet 
days, when they were not in use,” so in 1737, at a Town Meeting, it 
was voted that “ a generall fence be built,” to keep the cattle from 
damaging property. 

Ipswich shared in the horrible witchcraft delusions. Elizabeth Howe 
was suspected of being in league with the devil, for Samuel Perkey’s 
daughter, Hannah, was strangely affected, and had seen Mrs. Howe 
coming and going through a crack in the clapboards, and hiding in the 
oven! Although her pastor and teacher of the Rowley church pro¬ 
nounced her innocent of the awful charge, the Elders refused to admit 
her to the church. When the witchcraft trials began in 1692, she was 
arrested, tried, and sentenced to be hanged. Esther Rogers was an¬ 
other victim, sentenced by Judge Samuel Sewall. 

On the principal business street of Gloucester in the very heart of 
the old fishing town, and enclosed by a high iron fence, is a large square 
house, painted in colonial yellow and white. This is known as the 
Sargent-Murray-Gilman house. 

The interior is now little changed. One may still admire the fine 
staircase with hand carved spindles, the big fireplaces, set in paneled 
walls. At Mr. Sargent’s death, his daughter Judith inherited it. She 
married first John Stevens, then John Murray. She must have been a 
remarkable woman, even as her portrait shows her to have been a 
beauty, for at that early period, when women seldom were conspicuous 
for other than domestic excellencies, she wrote books and plays, edited 
a magazine, and finished her husband’s biography. After the Murrays, 
the house was purchased by Fred Gilman, who fell in love with and 
married Abigail Somes, daughter of a Gloucester tavern keeper. He 
made and lost a fortune, but during his occupancy of the house many 

8 Some Old Ipswich Houses, Rev. Thomas Franklin Waters. 



■frji 





The Sargent-Murray-Gilman house, Gloucester, Massachusetts. 












The Sargent room, Sargent-Murray-Gilman house, Gloucester, Massachusetts. In this 
room have been collected many portraits by the two artists of the Sargent family, and 

photographs of others. 














Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns ^5 257 


distinguished guests were entertained in it, among them General and 
Molly Stark, who were great friends of the Gilmans. 

Entering by an Ionic-pillared doorway, one comes into a wide 
hall, extending through the house. Two spacious rooms open on either 
side} of these four, one each is devoted to three prominent families 
whose names are associated with the house, while the fourth is a memo¬ 
rial to a beloved Gloucester teacher. 

The Sargent room, with a very beautiful white mantel and paneling, 
contains a portrait by Copley of Judith Sargent, first mistress of the 
house, and a number of portraits, or photographs of portraits, of the 
long line of Sargents, including, of course, the two portrait painters 
of the family, Henry and John Singer Sargent. 

There is the Murray room, the Reverend John Murray, Judith 
Sargent’s second husband, having been known as the Father of Uni- 
versalism in New England. 

Finally comes the Gilman room, in honor of the family who 
made the old house a centre of entertainment. 

From the fine hall, a flight of broad stairs, with hand wrought 
mahogany bannisters, white painted, like the rest of the woodwork, 
leads, with a landing, to the second story. A very beautiful Palladian 
window on this landing calls for admiration. On the second floor, 
several of the chambers have the little powder closets where 
wigs were dressed. In those days, people did not powder in public 
conveyances, or on the streets. The small fireplaces on this floor 
could hardly have warmed the bedrooms during cold New England 
winters. 

As to the house’s history, when Judith, daughter of Captain Win- 
throp Sargent, married her second husband, in 1768, her father built 
her this beautiful house. 

After being left a widow the second time, Mrs. Murray sold the 
house to Frederick Gilman, a Gloucester business man, and major in 
its militia. When he died, leaving a widow and one son, Mrs. Gilman 
was unable to retain the house, and sold it. The son became the Rev¬ 
erend Samuel Gilman, for many years pastor of the Unitarian Church, 



258 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Charleston, South Carolina. He also wrote the words of “ Fair Har¬ 
vard.” 

Several people then owned the house, and finally it was threatened 
with demolition, the Metropolitan Museum of New York having been 
on the point of purchasing and removing the old woodwork. A de¬ 
scendant of Captain Winthrop Sargent interested others in forming 
the society which purchased the old house, now owns and cares for it, 
and has collected the interesting souvenirs and old furniture treasured 
within its walls. 

Among members of the Sargent family who distinguished them¬ 
selves, aside from the two painters, were Winthrop, son of its builder, 
a major in the Revolutionary Army, and Secretary of the Northwest 
Territory} Paul Dudley Sargent, aide de camp to Washington, and 
friend of Lafayette} Daniel, a prominent merchant of his day, whose 
wife, Mary Turner, was born in Salem’s House of the Seven Gables, 
down to the modern Charles Sprague Sargent, of the Arnold Arbore¬ 
tum, and author of Silva of North America. 

The greatest treasures of the house are modern} four early sketches 
done by its most renowned son, the child, John Singer Sargent. One of 
these was done at the age of four, a sketch of his father, but another, 
drawn four years later, the study of an old man, is remarkable, even 
were it not the work of a child. 

There are other interesting old houses in Gloucester, not open to 
the public, but which charm those fortunate enough to be admitted. 
In one of these lives an old lady quite surrounded by interesting and 
beautiful furniture, ornaments, and other relics of the past. She has 
replaced the old leaded windows of the early period of her house with 
modern, large-paned sashes. A visitor remonstrated with her one day, 
but the old lady replied: 

“ Yes, I know they criticise me in this town, but I’m tired of look¬ 
ing through little bits of panes, so I’ve had the large ones put in. But 
after I’m gone the old ones can be put back by anyone who wishes, 
for they’re all upstairs in the attic.” 

It would be useless now to look for the old house on Back Street, 



6 % Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns ^9 259 


where lived one Peg Wesson, and which was in or near an old build¬ 
ing called the Garrison. Shortly before troops left Gloucester on the 
Cape Breton expedition, in 1745, some of the men visited her, and in¬ 
curred her displeasure. Already it had been hinted that she was a witch, 
so when she threatened the soldiers that she would be avenged on them 
at Louisburg, it made a disagreeable impression. 

When they were in camp there, they noticed a black crow, which 
kept flying or hovering near them. They decided that the bird of ill 
omen must be Peg. Knowledge of witchcraft lore made them realize 
that only silver would serve to bring down a witch, and since they of 
course had no silver bullets, one of the men took a silver cuff link, 
loaded it into his musket, and fired. The crow fell with a broken leg, 
and was soon killed. 

At the very time that the bird fell , Mistress Peg fell down in 
Gloucester, and broke her leg! Furthermore, when the wound was 
probed, the veritable silver cuff link fired in camp was extracted. Such 
was one of the amazing tales circulated and apparently believed in 
those days. 

Cape Ann was discovered by Captain John Smith in 1614, and 
settlements were made there soon after the Massachusetts colonists 
landed in 1620. John Pool first settled in Rockport, which remained a 
part of Gloucester until 1840. 

Pigeon Cove, a mile and a half beyond Rockport, and formerly 
known as The Gap, is a small village of summer homes, and all-the- 
year-round residents. Save for a small, sandy bathing beach, the shore 
is rocky. None the less, the rocky shore did not bar early settlers, and 
it boasts three very old and surviving houses. Another quite venerable 
one, although outwardly much transformed, is known to-day as 
Mammy’s Old Tavern, and was an inn many years ago. This is said 
to occupy the site of the old John Babson house, which he built and 
occupied in 1695. The present may include a portion of the old 
building. 

Samuel Gott, one of the first little group of settlers, built himself 
a gambrel-roofed house near Halibut Point. Other early settlers were 



260 Historic Houses of Early America 


Jethro Wheeler and his son Jethro. These two built what is still 
called “ The Castle,” now but a few rods from the highroad, but then 
described as on “ a wild and craggy site.” 

The fourth surviving old house of interest is always known as the 
Witch house. 

First to be passed by the motorist from Gloucester will be the 
Castle. 

Just how the house received its name is lost in oblivion. A few 
years ago, it seemed doomed to fall, and save for a few rooms, was 
unoccupied. Nor would a visitor last autumn have thought that many 
years of life remained to it, for the ceilings sagged, window panes had 
been replaced by boards, paper dangled from the walls. But the 
property had already been purchased by Mrs. Harry Rogers, and her 
brothers, the Messrs. Story. They intend to restore the house as 
much as possible to its original condition, and present it to the village 
as a memorial to their mother for community use. They have also 
purchased the house now standing between the Castle and the high¬ 
road, intend removing the building, and laying out a lawn on its site. 
This will greatly improve the appearance. 

Of salt box type, the Castle has three large rooms on the first floor, 
and from a small entry, steep stairs mount to the second story. One 
room at the left of the entry downstairs has the old fireplace and cup¬ 
boards beside it still remaining, but the ceiling in this room especially 
has sagged so much, with the massive beam crossing it, that only a 
short man could stand erect beneath the beam and he would have no 
difficulty in touching the rest of the ceiling with his hand. 

The original part of the Witch house, believed to have been a 
garrison house, consisted of a front entry, and two or possibly three 
rooms. One of these had a big fireplace with cupboards set in one en¬ 
tirely paneled wall. Across the entry of this oldest part, which is now 
one side of the house, is a smaller room, whose broad plank-sheathed 
walls have been uncovered to their original state, all plaster and paint 
having been removed by the present interested owners. The big old 
rafters have also been bared, and, unusual for a room of this size, three 



Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns ^5 261 


cross the low ceiling. The original old fireplace here is, it is thought, 
concealed behind the newer, smaller one, which has a closet beside it. 
The owners intend searching for the old fireplace as soon as other and 
more pressing repairs and restorations are completed. 

Behind this room is another, as to whose age there is doubt. That 
it is very old goes without saying, but it may or may not be part of the 
original building. The outer wall of this side of the house still shows 
the second story overhanging perhaps nine inches, and doubtless origi¬ 
nally this overhang could be seen on all four sides, but has now dis¬ 
appeared with more modern additions. The present front entrance, 
hall, and rooms on the first and second story were added in 1750. 
Some modern owner had replaced the old front door with an ugly 
later one; had built an ugly, fan-like projection over the old side door, 
once the main entrance. Both of these have now disappeared, and a 
fine colonial door found in another town has been hung on the Witch 
house. A still later addition is used as the present kitchen. 

In removing the plaster from the oldest portion, the inner planks 
were found to have the roughened, splintered surface first used to 
hold plaster on walls, before laths were substituted. 

Upstairs, in the old part, is one large and beautifully paneled room, 
showing that the woodwork here is much later than the period of 
building. A smaller room across the entry has plainer paneling, mantel 
and cupboards, also later than the building of the house, but earlier 
than the woodwork in the larger room. It is thought that in this latter 
room the paneling and fireplace may mask a larger, older one. One 
board in the paneling is twenty-seven inches wide. Above all of these 
rooms is an attic, reached by quaint, steep old stairs. 

The story goes that a woman was accused of witchcraft in Danvers 
or Salem Township, and that her two sons fled with her, walking all 
the long distance to Pigeon Cove, to seek safety. Here, according to 
one version, they took refuge in the garrison house, now the Witch 
house; according to another version, the sons built the house for their 
mother, and all three lived in it. Tradition also says that the woman’s 
accuser was a clergyman. Later his own wife was accused, and since 



262 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


he knew that she was not a witch, he lost belief in their existence. There 
is no story of the mother and sons ever returning to their former home, 
and they seem to have spent the rest of their lives here in The Gap. 

The house stands well back from the highroad, quite screened 
by trees, and last year was still wearing a coat of dingy yellow paint. 
A few years ago, the house was bought, and the new owner proceeded 
to make many changes to suit his taste. Among others, he directed the 
local house painter to paint the house this ugly color, with door and 
window trimmings of green. To his credit, the painter remonstrated. 

“ Why, it will not look like the Witch house if it is painted,” he 
urged. “ That house has never yet received a coat of paint. I’d almost 
sooner not take the job than paint it.” 

But the new owner was obdurate, and the deed was done. He did 
not long own the house, and when the present owners bought it, they 
at once set to work to remove the devastating changes. The green trim 
has disappeared, and presumably as soon as possible the yellow 
walls will be restored more nearly to the original weather-stained 
grey. 

Gott house is a two-story building, with a very small ell, and a 
curious roof, hipped in front but not in the back, so that the second 
story is higher in the rear than in front, and gives a curious outline. 
The large kitchen has a fireplace in which a modern stove finds ample 
room, and a fireplace in the room across the hall also remains, with 
one old corner cupboard. 

Very steep, narrow, winding stairs lead to the second story, with 
a cupboard opening off a small landing in front of the chimney. Its 
exact age seems unknown, but it is at least one hundred and fifty years 
old. 

Oldest house on Cape Ann is the picturesque, charming old Riggs 
homestead, in Annisquam. Built in 1638, of logs, by Thomas Riggs, 
the first schoolmaster and second town clerk in this township, it has 
remained in the ownership of the Riggs family ever since, and is now 
used as a summer home by the eighth and ninth generations of that 
name. The original part consisted of the schoolroom and one or two 




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spindles and mahogany handrail in the Sargent-Murrav- 
Gilman house, Gloucester, Massachusetts. 















The Riggs house, said to be the oldest on Cape Ann. Ever since its building, for the 
first Cape Ann schoolmaster, it has been owned and occupied by the Riggs family. 


Courtesy of the Aibertype Co., Brooklyn , A. I . 

The Witch house, Pigeon Cove, Massachusetts. A very old house with several additions, 
it is now being very carefully restored. Here, during the witchcraft delusions, an un¬ 
fortunate woman took refuge with her sons. Some say that an earlier garrison house 
was standing here at that time; others that the woman’s sons built it for her. 








Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns 263 


rooms above, reached through the narrowest of doorways, by the nar¬ 
rowest, steepest of stairs. The new part of the house was added in 
1660. 

The former kitchen in this addition opens from the old school¬ 
room. It has a tremendous fireplace, eight feet across, large enough 
to contain as it does easily, a good-sized sofa, a spinning wheel, and a 
number of household utensils of early days. Among treasured pos¬ 
sessions is a cannon ball, fired by a British sloop in Annisquam River at 
the village church, during the War of 1812. From this old room 
opens the present kitchen, where is a rare old soapstone stove, and at 
the side are two more low-ceiled rooms. An odd piece of furniture is 
a rush-bottomed chair, which the grandmother of the present younger 
generation used aptly to call the “ wavering chair.” It seems as though 
about to fall to pieces, for the legs twist back and forth at all sorts of 
angles, but it is in reality solid, and the grandmother says that it has 
been thus apparently unsteady ever since she can remember. Since 
one can rock in it, although the legs do not leave the floor, it would 
almost appear to have been made as it is. 

The old mantels and wall cupboards are found in these rooms, 
and fine old furniture, including some Windsor chairs, all of which 
have been in the family for generations, add to the harmony of the 
interior. There is a second story over this part too, reached by a second 
narrow staircase, and the only modern addition is the broad porch over¬ 
looking the river. Otherwise, the grey old house has nothing new in 
appearance. 

The narrow road or lane by which it is reached turns off from the 
highway, just beyond Annisquam’s famous willows, which here border 
the road for some distance on both sides. 

Returning to Gloucester, as one must to proceed in either direction, 
one may go north along the shore to picturesque old Newbury and 
Newburyport. 

These two, which now practically are one town, have many fasci¬ 
nating old houses, some of which are not of actual historic interest, 
save for their age, dating from the 17th century. The Swett-Ilsley 



264 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


house, open as a museum, and cared for by the New England Associa¬ 
tion for the Preservation of Antiquities, is noteworthy. 

It was built before 1670 — the exact date is not known — for 
Stephen Swett, who had previously kept the Blue Anchor Tavern 
nearby. He lived in it until 1691, when he sold it to Hugh March, 
who by that time had succeeded him as tavern keeper. Like most of 
the early innkeepers, March was something of a personage. He was 
a captain, had commanded a company in the expedition against Canada 
in 1690, and in 1697, commanded forces attacking the Indians at 
Damaris Cove, Maine. (The Indians attacked Newbury in 1696.) Still 
later, he bravely defended His Majesty’s fort at Casco Bay against 
an attack by French and Indians, for which gallantry, as well as com¬ 
pensation for wounds received, he was awarded £50. 

When Captain March died, in 1712, the old house was sold to 
Captain Henry Lyon, who also kept the Blue Anchor Tavern, but he 
soon moved away from Newbury, and the house was sold again and 
again. In 1772, it was owned by Dudley Colman, “town clerk and 
gentleman,” who served in the Revolution, and became Lieutenant- 
Colonel of Colonel Wigglesworth’s regiment. Colonel Colman par¬ 
ticipated. in engagements along the Hudson River, and in the dreary 
winter spent by the Revolutionary Army under Washington, at Valley 
Forge. While he owned the house, at one time a “ tobacconist business,” 
and a chocolate mill were located in it. Another Revolutionary soldier, 
Nicholas Titcomb, then owned and installed a tavern in the old house, 
later selling it to Oliver Putnam, blacksmith and scythemaker, also 
of the Continental Army. He, too, kept the tavern open. 

Oliver Putnam’s son, Oliver, became wealthy, and in 1826 he be¬ 
queathed money for founding the Putnam Free School, in Newbury- 
port. 

In 1797, the house was owned by Isaiah Ilsley, a joiner, and re¬ 
mained in his family until, in 1911, it was purchased by the Society. 

It now is, and has for many years been a long, low, two-story and 
attic building of the salt box type, with two front entrances on the 
street. The oldest part is at the left of the left entrance, and this is 



Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns ^5 265 


the part built for Stephen Swett before 1670; one room on the first 
floor, and a small entry, from which stairs lead to the chamber above. 
The original roof over this had a front gable and “ peaked window,” 
the front being what is now the eastern end of the present house. The 
second story overhung the first by several inches, which feature has 
now disappeared. 

Perhaps ten years after its building, the house was enlarged, 
chimney and stairs at the western end removed, others built against 
the north wall, and the present middle rooms added, with the front 
then facing on the street, as now. The stairs built at that time are gone, 
but the present chimney is believed to be this second one, very large, 
and with enormous fireplace. The space occupied by the first chimney 
was used to make two small rooms, still existing in the rear of the 
house. 

Several other additions were made; the last, with the second en¬ 
trance on the street, and a second flight of stairs, has two rooms on 
each floor. It is beside this second door that the old tavern sign now 
hangs, luncheons and teas being served for the upkeep of the building. 

The Society has removed the modern plaster from the oldest 
rooms, and the fine old sheathing now stands revealed. In the middle 
room, in the first addition, is the fireplace mentioned, one of the 
largest in New England, perhaps in the country, for it measures ten 
feet 2^r inches, lacks but an inch of being six feet high, and is a trifle 
over three feet deep. 

Five rooms have thus far been carefully restored by the Society, 
which hopes, with added funds, eventually to restore the entire house. 
Of these five are the two earliest rooms, the chamber on the second 
floor, with beautifully paneled walls, untouched by paint, and two 
middle rooms, one with the enormous fireplace. In the newest part 
upstairs are rooms paneled and painted white, and here are some fine 
old H and HL hinges. 

The Garrison house in Newburyport is worthy of mention because 
in addition to being 150 years old, it originally consisted of two four- 
story brick houses, just alike, adjoining, but with no connection inside. 



266 Historic Houses of Early America ^§9 


These were the residences of two brothers, and when the property 
was bought for hotel purposes, one staircase throughout was removed 
and replaced by an elevator shaft, while connecting arches were opened 
in the halls on each floor. How thick the inner walls are may be seen 
now. 

The Governor William Dummer house, built in 1715-16, is still 
used in connection with the school which, in 1762, he left money to 
establish. The school charter was signed by John Hancock in 1763. 

Turning westward, away from the coast, it is not a long drive to 
Haverhill, where are a couple of houses of historic interest. 

That in which John Greenleaf Whittier was born in 1807 is 
known as Fernside Farm. The present house stands on the site of a 
primitive one, doubtless of logs, built here by Thomas Whittier, whom 
Mr. Faris calls the poet’s “ three hundred pound ancestor.” In 1668, 
Thomas wished a larger house, and built the present one, with massive 
hand hewn timbers, and a kitchen thirty feet long. Like the great 
kitchen in the Dorothy Q. house, Quincy, this served as general living 
room. Here the poet spent his childhood, and the house is now owned 
by a memorial association, and open to the public. 

Another old house in Haverhill is of great interest, since it was the 
home of one of the most heroic of pioneer women. For those who 
have forgotten the story, it may be told that here, to a house built of 
imported brick, in 1677, Thomas Duston brought his bride, Hannah. 
He believed that it should not be necessary to import bricks, and began 
experimenting until he produced such excellent ones that Haverhill 
became noted for them. He then built a larger house of Haverhill 
bricks on the site of the former, with floors and roof of white oak, 
building it substantially, since it was to serve as a garrison house for 
refuge from the Indians. But on March 15th, 1697, when he was away 
from home, the Indians attacked the settlement, and dragged off with 
them his wife Hannah, with her week-old baby, the nurse, Mrs. Neffe, 
and a young boy. For a hundred and fifty miles, the little party jour¬ 
neyed with their savage captors, sometimes being told of the horrible 
fate that awaited them when the journey’s end should be reached. 





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Fireplace Swett-Isley house. 



King Hooper house, Marblehead, Massachusetts. Its owner received the nickname of 
King because of the magnificent entertainments he gave. The house is now occupied bv 

the Y. M. C. A. 














6?^ Other Old Massachusetts Coast Towns ^5 267 


Then, one night, the Indians slept without leaving a guard. Probably 
they felt sure that the two women and boy could do nothing, out in 
the lonely forest, but they did not know the spirit of the pioneers. 

Hannah incited her nurse and the boy to follow her example. Fall¬ 
ing upon the sleeping Indians, they killed them all with hatchets 
before they could rouse to resist. The brave women and the boy, not 
forgetting the baby, sturdy infant, then started on the long homeward 
journey when Hannah remembered the bounty offered by the prov¬ 
ince for Indian scalps, and returning, she scalped the dead Indians, 
and took the bloody trophies with her. 

How the two women, the boy and baby managed to get back to the 
settlement where they had long been given up as dead, seems a miracle, 
but they did so, paddling down the Merrimack River, eating what 
they could find in the forests. 

The General Assembly of Massachusetts voted Hannah £25, and 
the same sum to be divided between Mrs. Neffe and the boy, Samuel 
Lennardson, thus recognizing that Hannah was the guiding spirit. The 
Governor of Maryland sent her a silver tankard, and one can imagine 
how that must have been treasured. 



































Chapter XII 

6^ The First American Baronet and His Home 


From Newburyport, it is a delightful drive to Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, where one will find not only beautiful old houses, but 
some which undoubtedly possess historic interest. Romance, too, is con¬ 
nected with some of these stately mansions. 

Rockingham Hotel stands on the site of the mansion of the Hon. 
Woodbury Langdon, Governor, and member of the Continental Con¬ 
gress. The original house was burned in 1781, and re-built four years 
later. In 1830, it became a public house, but in 1884 all but one room, 
the colonial dining room, was destroyed by fire. The present hotel 
was built around this room, which is paneled in white and gold, with 
corner cupboards having very unusual and elaborate brass hinges. 
These cupboards are now filled with fine old china, and the room 
contains interesting curios. Decidedly a show room, the hotel people 
are glad to allow visitors. 

The beautiful Winslow-Pierce mansion, still owned and occupied 
by members of the original family, is situated on Middle Street. Not 
open to the public, the occupants none the less are very kind in opening 
it for charitable entertainments, or special celebrations. Three stories 
in height, white, with green blinds, and charming colonial doorway, 
it is a fine specimen of its period, 1799. 

The Aldrich house, home of Thomas Bailey AJdrich’s grand¬ 
parents, and where the author lived as a child, is extremely interesting 
because while not a mansion, merely a comfortable home, it contains 
the original furniture, many of the little everyday articles used by the 


268 



6 ?^ The First American Baronet ^§5 


269 


family. The rooms have been arranged with loving attention, largely 
by the author’s wife, to look as though the original occupants had but 
just stepped out for a moment. It is filled with fine pieces of Sheraton 
and Phyfe furniture, beautiful ladderback chairs, old china, silver 
and homespun linen. 

A portrait of Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s great-great-grandmother 
Adams, copied from the original by Copley, is among those hanging 
on the walls. The fire irons are of Bell metal, a mixture of brass, copper 
and tin. The custodian tells that Miss Abigail Bailey, a maiden relative, 
came to pay a visit in this hospitable home, and remained for seventeen 
years. 

The room of Mrs. Aldrich, the author’s mother, has some of her 
own belongings in the bureau drawers, night clothes laid out on the 
four-post bedstead, with its wonderful white counterpane in most 
elaborate hand-quilted pattern. Here are two rag dolls, a negro mother 
and baby, made by the same hands. 

Mr. Aldrich’s room, too, might have been left but a moment be¬ 
fore by its occupant, while in “ Grandfather ” Aldrich’s room are his 
large Bible, his spectacles in their case beside it on a small table, and 
his square old checkbook bound in stiff paper covers, lies on the bureau. 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s childhood room is a small one over the 
front lower hall. Here is the window out of which he climbed, here 
the small bed, covered with a quilt made by his mother. 

One may mount to the big attic, “ for all broken down things,” and 
see some of these, including a large spinning wheel. 

In the old garden has been built a fireproof room to house the 
author’s interesting collections of manuscripts — some of these dating 
from the time when he was editor of the Atlantic Monthly — his auto¬ 
graphed photographs of many poets and other authors; his auto¬ 
graphed first editions, and the many beautiful and valuable gifts which 
he received from kings and queens, noble and commoner in Europe, 
as well as those from his own countrymen. The house is owned by the 
Thomas Bailey Aldrich Association, and is open to visitors. 

The Moffet Ladd house, built in 1763, is owned and kept open by 



2 7 ° 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


the Colonial Dames. It is a splendid example of a mansion of that 
period, although now in a rather shabby neighborhood. From a spa¬ 
cious, beautiful hall, rises a broad staircase with fine carved bannisters. 
The paper on halls and stairway walls here is the original French 
paper put on in 1820, showing scenes from various foreign countries, 
in grisaille. There are a number of double cross doors, and the wood¬ 
work throughout is beautiful, but none of the original furniture re¬ 
mains, although the Dames have filled the house with beautiful pieces 
loaned by different persons. Many doors have the old HL hinges. 

The drawing room on the first floor, in the rear, looking out over 
the old garden, has a beautiful Gringling Gibbons mantel from an old 
English manor house. From this room, a secret passage used to lead 
to the sea, but this has now been bricked up, for it was haunted by rats, 
as well as somewhat dangerous as an entrance for thieves or tramps. 

The mantel in the front dining room is framed with the original 
Dutch tiles, imported by the builder. 

There is a beautiful bedroom above the drawing room, and one 
over the dining room has its powdering closet. All of the rooms have 
fireplaces, with broad panels above. 

The Wentworth-Gardner house, built in 1760, is now a mere 
shell, for its fittings, fireplaces, mantels and doors, including the old 
front one, were purchased by the Boston Museum and practically noth¬ 
ing but the four walls remains of the old. 

Two miles from the business centre of the town is the house built 
by Governor Benning Wentworth, in 1750. It is said that originally it 
contained fifty-two rooms. Many of these have been removed, but 
as it stands, the house is very large, although some of the rooms are 
small. It is a long, rambling structure. 

In the great cellar, the Governor had room for stabling thirty 
horses. This was the Governor Wentworth who married the young 
maidservant, Martha Hilton, to the amazement of his guests and the 
officiating clergyman, as set forth in Longfellow’s poem, “Lady 
Wentworth.” This is the 

“ . . . pleasant mansion, an abode 



6 ?^ The First American Baronet 


271 


“ Near and yet hidden from the great highroad 

u Sequestered among trees, a noble pile 

“ Baronial and colonial in style.” 

Here the Governor had invited “ all his friends and peers, the 
Pepperel’s, the Langdons and the Lears, the Sparhawks,” . . . these 
names will recur in histories of New England towns — and after the 
feasting, he requested the clergyman to marry him to the young maid, 
and so “ Martha was Lady Wentworth of the Hall.” 

After the Governor died, in 1770, the widow married another 
Wentworth, Michael, retired colonel of the British Army, who had 
come to Portsmouth three years before. Washington visited here after 
the second marriage. The couple had a daughter, Martha, who married 
Sir Jonathan Wentworth, of England. 

The first Wentworth to come to America was of a noble English 
family. William Wentworth came over in 1638, and the following 
year settled in New Hampshire, became a preacher, and was known as 
Elder Wentworth. When eighty years old, he was sleeping in a garri¬ 
son house one night, when he was awakened by the barking of a dog 
just as Indians were opening the door. Lying flat on his back, he pushed 
and held the door shut with his feet, while by his cries he aroused the 
other men. Although bullets fired at him pierced the door, they went 
over him as he lay there without touching him. 

His son John became Lieutenant Governor, and Governor Benning 
was another son of the sturdy old Elder. Lieutenant Governor John’s 
son was last of the royal governors. 

Captain Archibald Macpheadies, in 1718 began to build himself a 
house which was not finished until five years later, and cost £6,000. 
He married a sister of Governor Benning, these being two of a family 
of sixteen children. Macpheadies took his bride to the new house, and 
later, their daughter married Jonathan Warner, and lived in it. Still 
standing, but modernized, a private residence, it is now always known 
as the Warner house, and to it Benjamin Franklin is said to have at¬ 
tached his first lightning rod. 

Portsmouth’s oldest existing, still occupied house is known as the 



272 Historic Houses of Early America 


Jackson house, and was built, of salt box type, in 1664. It has a very 
high-pitched roof, with leanto of a later period, as can plainly be seen, 
since it blocks one of the earlier windows. 

In the house now occupied by the Portsmouth Athletic Club, there 
still remains some wallpaper made in Alsace, in 1826. It shows views 
of the Hudson River, West Point, New York, Niagara Falls, Boston 
and its harbor, and the Natural Bridge, Virginia. 

The house now owned and occupied by the Historical Association 
of Portsmouth, and open to the public, was built in 1758, by Captain 
Purcell. When he died, his widow found herself in reduced circum¬ 
stances, so kept boarders to help make ends meet. In 1779, Paul Jones 
stayed here while the Ranger was fitted out in Portsmouth harbor, and 
again in 1782, while the America was undergoing the same process. 

It is a large, square, two-story and attic house, now painted a colo¬ 
nial yellow, with fine white paneling and woodwork throughout, big 
old fireplaces, with closets in the walls beside them, etc. The front door 
opens on a square hall, with an archway at the rear, behind which the 
stairs mount, and a narrower hall leads to the dining room or library, 
with the old kitchen opposite. On each side of the front hall is a large 
square room. The present kitchen and the space above, which formerly 
was made into several rooms, but has now been thrown into one, is 
more modern. Interesting old furniture has been placed in some of the 
rooms. 

The Historical Society has owned the property for six years. 
Shortly before the World War, it had been purchased by the Granite 
Insurance Company. During the war it was used for community pur¬ 
poses, and later, the Insurance Company planned to remove it, and 
erect a business building on its site. The Historical Society was anxious 
that the house should be preserved, and finally, through the generosity 
of the late Mr. Woodbury Langdon, a retired New York merchant, its 
purchase was made possible. In this house, Washington, Lafayette and 
Louis Philippe have been entertained. 

Not far from Portsmouth is New Castle, and here the dwelling 
built by General Jaffray, and for seven years used as a Council House 



The First American Baronet ^§5 


273 


does stand, but would hardly be recognized as old. It remained in the 
Jaffray family until 1813, but eventually was bought by a wealthy 
man, who built a fine modern residence, reserving the old house merely 
as an ell. 

Although New Hampshire was early visited with intent to colo¬ 
nize, the first attempts were not successful. Mason Hall, on Odiorne 
Point, the first frame house in the state, was built about 1623, but has 
disappeared. In 1631, Humphrey Chadbourne built the “Great 
house,” three miles up the Piscataqua River above Mason Hall, on 
ground covered with wild strawberries, so that the place was sometimes 
known as Strawberry Hill. The old cellar and well are said still to be 
here, but the house was in ruins as early as 1685. Odiorne Point is the 
present Rye. 

Another of the first four settlements, Portsmouth, Hampton, Ex¬ 
eter and Dover, which existed in 1641, offers a garrison house, almost 
as when built. This is Dover, in whose Woodman Institute the build¬ 
ing, two hundred and fifty years old, is preserved. Presented by its 
last owner, Mrs. Rounce, to the Institute, it was removed to its present 
site, and, for better protection, has been surrounded by a high lattice, 
topped with a slate roof. 

Originally it was surrounded, for the better protection of its in¬ 
mates from Indian attacks, by a high stockade, with a wooden gate 
which could be barred. 

The garrison house was built of hand hewn logs in 1672, by Wil¬ 
liam Damme, and was known for more than a century as the Damme 
house. For eighty years it was then called the Drew garrison house, and 
later was for thirty-five years owned by the lady who gave it to the 
Institute. 

The original windows were very small, unglazed, merely openings 
in the log walls. These logs rested closely on each other, the corners 
squared and fastened with oak pins. The roof timbers, of mortice and 
tenon construction, overhanging the walls were held in place by similar 
pins. In the centre is the big chimney built of large, soft bricks, im¬ 
ported from England, with fireplaces opening into the two rooms on 



274 


Historic Houses of Early America 


the first floor. The second story was left unpartitioned, and was reached 
by a very narrow, steep staircase. A tiny entry, just the width of the 
chimney, admits to the two lower rooms. 

It is especially interesting to be able to examine one of the old 
garrison houses which has been left so nearly in its original state. Usu¬ 
ally when such have survived, they have been so modernized that it is 
difficult to picture them just as they stood when early settlers must 
often flee to them, there to defend themselves and their families as 
best they could from attacking savages. The Dover house has, too, been 
filled with interesting old relics and furniture of the early days. 

The primitive “ half house ” in this part of the country was of logs, 
perhaps twenty feet square, with small windows, and a great chimney. 
The “ double house,” forty by twenty feet, indicated that its owner was 
wealthy. Furniture was usually made in the settlement, of pine, birch, 
cherry, walnut or curled maple. The first cattle here were imported 
from Denmark. 

Almost as far south of Portsmouth as Dover is north, in old Ex¬ 
eter, is another of these log garrison houses, built by Councillor John 
Gilman, somewhere between 1650 and 1658. This is occupied as a 
dwelling by a family to-day, while an addition, built on by his grand¬ 
son, Peter, at the time of a reception which he tendered to the Gover¬ 
nor, is also a residence. The house is in good condition, but not open to 
visitors. 

Peter evidently wished to make a good appearance when he enter¬ 
tained the Governor, and this for several reasons. The latter, last of 
the royal governors, was John Wentworth, young, popular, and fond 
of show and display. Furthermore, there had been much jealousy be¬ 
tween Exeter and Portsmouth, so that until this Wentworth’s gover¬ 
norship, the royal representatives had paid little attention to the for¬ 
mer town. John Wentworth, however, visited it frequently. 

At all events, Peter Gilman, about 1712-13, built on a front part 
to his house, with paneling, and elaborate woodwork, such as was then 
coming into fashion. The older part had sheathed walls, low ceilings, 
and no pretension to elegance. 



6 ?^ The First American Baronet 


275 


Peter had seven daughters, but no son. He was Speaker of the As¬ 
sembly, Councillor of the Province, Brigadier General in the French 
and Indian wars. After his death, the house was owned by Ebenezer 
Clifford, who came to Exeter from Kensington. He was fond of me¬ 
chanics, invented a diving bell, and studied architecture. Daniel 
Webster at one time boarded with him in this house. 

The Cincinnati Society occupies the Governor Gilman house here, 
the central part of which was built in 1721. This was the home of Gov¬ 
ernor John Taylor Gilman, and of the Honorable Nicholas Gilman, 
Treasurer of New Hampshire during the Revolution, when the house 
was used as State Treasury. The two sons of Governor Gilman both 
served in the Revolutionary Army, John enlisting the day after the 
Battle of Lexington. 

The original part of the house was built of brick, by Nathaniel 
Ladd, and was bought about 1747 by Daniel, father of Nicholas, the 
State Treasurer. Two wings were added later, and it was then owned 
for many years by the Gilman family. As the Society has now furnished 
it with correct articles of the period of its building, it is most attractive. 

What is still known in Exeter as the Nathaniel Gilman house, a 
two story, hipped roof dwelling, stood originally on the site of the 
present Town Hall. When the latter was re-built, the old house was 
moved to Franklin Street, changed, partly demolished, and is fast 
falling to ruin. Nathaniel Gilman was but sixteen when the Revolution 
broke out, so did not serve in the army. 

Not far from the town, still another old garrison house, the Jan- 
vrin, stands, but has been greatly changed by recent owners. 

Horace Greeley’s birthplace in Amherst, and that of Daniel Web¬ 
ster in Franklin, forming the central part of a more modern house, are 
both still standing. 

Further north in the state, on the Connecticut River, in the town 
of Haverhill, may still be seen the 17th century house of Governor 
Page, painted white, and with a modern piazza. It was occupied by a 
Page until a very few years ago. 

Vermont offers few houses with histories. The grandfather of 



276 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


President Hayes, who came to Brattleboro from New Haven, when 
just twenty-one years old, built himself a house there in 1784. 

The Jenkins house, in Rutland, built in 1780, was for seven years 
used as a Court House, and within it the first Vermont Legislature sat. 
Here in Rutland lived Rufus Putnam, a cousin of General Israel. He 
served with distinction in the French and Indian wars, and during the 
Revolution in the engineering branch of the service. But Putnam was 
not born in the state, nor did he live in it long, coming to Rutland in 
1780, and leaving it eight years later, at the head of a little band of 
pioneers, for Ohio, where they founded the town of Marietta. While 
in Rutland Putnam occupied a house built for the Tory Colonel, John 
Murray. This was confiscated by Congress during the Revolution, and 
bought by Putnam. 

In Poultney is a house which was standing as early as 1800, but 
the date of its building cannot be established definitely, since the old 
town records were burned. There is a local tradition that Heber Allen, 
brother of Ethan, had some kind of a dwelling on the property, and 
he is buried in the East Poultney cemetery. 

The present owner can trace the definite history of his residence 
no further back than when it was occupied by the Reverend Clark 
Kendrick, pastor of the East Poultney Baptist Church. The Kendricks 
were early prominent in New England, Kendrick being one of the first 
presidents of Harvard University. Several others of the family have 
been professors in prominent colleges. 

The house was long known as the Pine Tree, because of an enor¬ 
mous pine close beside it. Several Kendrick children of a past genera¬ 
tion used this as a means of entering and leaving their second story 
rooms unknown to their parents, and one of them told his daughter of 
this youthful prank. The tree no longer stands. 

It has been asserted that the old house was once an inn, known as 
the Pine Tree, but there seems no ground for such statement. It once 
served as a Jewish synagogue. The present owner purchased it in 1913, 
when it had fallen into a most dilapidated condition, and has restored 
it to a comfortable modern home. 




The old Jackson house, built in 1664, and probably the oldest now standing in 

Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 



The Warner house, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, built by a Governor for his daughter. 
To this house Benjamin Franklin attached an early lightning rod. 















—-• i-J- 

P i 


Drawing room in the Moffet-Ladd house, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The furniture 
here has been collected — gifts and loans— by the Colonial Dames, which organization 

now owns the house. 



A mantel brought to Moffet-Ladd house, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from an old 

English manor. 

























6 ^ The First American Baronet ^5 


277 


Almost a century old is a house in North Fairfax. Although a mod¬ 
ern piazza has somewhat changed it outwardly, otherwise it is much 
as when built. 

In 1805, Samuel Webster, brother of Peletiah, who helped frame 
the Constitution of the United States, came by ox sled from Bennington, 
Vermont, with his little family to North Fairfax, and built himself a 
house in what was practically a wilderness. This house was of logs, and 
although it has long since vanished, the old well and cellar were plainly 
discernible at least a year ago. Mr. Webster came here attracted by a 
beaver meadow nearby, which offered hay for his cattle, while the tim¬ 
ber afforded possibilities for making potash. 

Theron, a son of Samuel Webster, who was but a few months old 
when the family moved, grew to manhood and built himself the house 
at North Fairfax, doing much of the work himself. Staunch, square, 
two-storied, that its building was a labor of love with" the youthful 
owner is shown by the very beautiful staircase which he installed. It is 
more than semicircular, beginning on the right hand wall, as one enters 
the big hall, making a circuit, and touching three walls, including the 
rear one, against which is the big chimney, on which the great fireplace 
in the rear kitchen opens. The staircase ends on the second story left 
hand wall, near the front, and one enters the left hand sitting room 
downstairs by passing beneath the stairs. Treads, spindles and hand 
rail are all of cherry, the latter two finely hand carved. The staircase 
has always been an object of admiration to neighbors and visitors. 

As a young man, Theron became much interested in the new da¬ 
guerreotype process for making likenesses. The house is no longer 
owned by the family, but a daguerreotype of it, with a likeness of him¬ 
self, both taken by its builder, are treasured by his descendants. 

If one follows the coast road north from Portsmouth into Maine, 
at Kittery Point will be found two interesting old houses, with roman¬ 
tic histories connected with them. Here is the home of the first Amer¬ 
ican baronet. 

Leaving the main highroad, and turning to the right from the park, 
it is not long before the house of Sir William Pepperell, is reached. 



278 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


A private residence, it is not open to the public, but since it now stands 
close to the highroad, one may examine the exterior. Once it was set 
in extensive grounds, which sloped down to the water, with beautiful 
gardens, of which a portion remains. 

There was a private burying ground here, where the first Sir Wil¬ 
liam Pepperell, who doubtless fancied that he was to be the founder 
of a long titled line, was buried. Before examining this house, one 
should proceed a very little further along the same road, and look at 
an older building, also not open to the public, but unmistakable in its 
grey old appearance. This is the Bray house, built in 1662, the oldest 
in Kittery. Originally it was much larger than the part surviving and 
still occupied. The builder kept a tavern in it, but as his affairs pros¬ 
pered, this was discontinued. He was a pioneer shipbuilder, and laid 
the foundations for his son-in-law’s future wealth. 

Margery Bray came with her father from England, in 1660, to 
Kittery. William Pepperell came to this country when thirty years old, 
first on fishing expeditions, and later went into the fishing business with 
a partner on the Isles of Shoals. He then removed to Kittery Point, 
Maine, where the Brays had been living for some years, and Margery 
had grown to girlhood. In 1680 Pepperell and Margery were married. 
She was an heiress, but apparently her suitor had also prospered, and 
in 1682, on a lot given him by his father-in-law, William Pepperell 
built “ one of the most magnificent of provincial residences.” 

Pepperell’s house had a spacious hall and staircase, and originally 
was forty-five feet long. Both ends of the house were later removed, 
after the Pepperells were no more, and made into two small houses 
which now stand between it and the old Bray house. Yet even now what 
remains is a good sized dwelling. The fine old front door is at right 
angles to the street j on the water side is another of equal size, and a 
third is in the other end. 

William Pepperell served in the fort on Great Island, or New 
Castle, and in 1700, when a garrison house was built on Kittery Point, 
it was called Pepperell. He died in 1734, the father of two sons and 
eight daughters. The elder son died, but William, Junior, became a 



The First American Baronet 


279 


partner in his father’s business, which had greatly prospered. It was 
the second William who ordered from London the marble tomb which 
still marks the family burial place. 

He also added extensively to the house built by his father, en¬ 
larged his holdings of land, and extended the grounds of the house 
to the water’s edge. He married Mary Hirst, of Boston. Besides con¬ 
tinuing the fishery business, ship-building, etc., he was a justice of the 
peace, a captain of cavalry, at thirty, a colonel, in command of all the 
Maine militia, and for thirty-five years commander of the fort close 
by. In 1745, with the rank of Lieutenant General, he headed the ex¬ 
pedition to Louisburg, and his wealth at that time is shown by his 
contribution of £5,000 towards this expedition. 

The fortress of Louisburg, which had been considered impreg¬ 
nable, surrendered after a short siege, and as a reward for his part, 
Pepperell was made a baronet of Great Britain, the first patent ever 
conferred upon a native born American. After this, he usually wore “ a 
very showy and expensive coat of scarlet cloth, trimmed with gold 
lace.” 

He died in 1759, his only son to grow to manhood, Andrew, hav¬ 
ing died eight years before. A daughter, Elizabeth, survived. She had 
married Nathaniel Sparhawk, of Boston, and had one son, William 
Pepperell Sparhawk. To him his grandfather, Sir William, left the 
bulk of his estate, and his title, on condition that the child drop the 
name of Sparhawk. He did so, and became the second baronet. It was 
this Sir William who married Mary, daughter of Isaac Royall of 
Medford, and these two, with the second daughter, Penelope’s Vas- 
sall kin, were probably largely responsible for enlisting Royall on the 
Loyalist instead of the Patriot side. The Pepperell estates were con¬ 
fiscated in 1778, three years after Sir William sailed for England, and 
as he left no son, the baronetcy became extinct. 

The Mary Pepperell house not far away, with the date, 1760 
prominent on its facade, was built by Mary, widow of the first Sir 
William, for her own home, after her grandson succeeded to the old 
house and estate. 



280 Historic Houses of Early America ^$§5 


The old Bray house became again a tavern after another daughter 
of the house, Margery’s sister, Mary, married an Underhill. During 
the Revolution, it was used as barracks for soldiers. 

At Brixham, York Corners, Maine, stands the old McIntyre gar¬ 
rison house, built of logs, the original portion never painted, but with a 
more modern addition at the left. The second story was built with a 
pronounced overhang. It has been greatly re-modeled, but is still oc¬ 
cupied as a residence. 

Maine is said to have had settlers in 1607, but nothing remains of 
such a settlement. 

Gorges obtained a charter of the Province of Maine in 1639, and 
already had built a “ mansion ” at York, when, the following year, he 
sent his nephew Thomas out from England to act as deputy governor. 
The nephew organized a court at Saco, but this settlement was destroyed 
by the Indians. 

Kennebunk has many old houses, some modernized, others almost 
as when built. Of the latter is the Crediford house, opposite the new 
Town Hall, and dating from 1784. 

Kennebunk was originally part of Wells Township, from which it 
was divided only after many years. Although there was a settlement 
in the township by 1641-2, eleven years later, there were but twenty- 
five families here. One of the early settlers was William Wentworth, 
who came from Exeter, and had four acres assigned him. He was the 
ruling elder already referred to as ancestor of John, Lieutenant Gov¬ 
ernor of New Hampshire, Governor Benning, and Governor John 
Wentworth, of the same state. 

The Storer mansion in Kennebunk, built in 1758, not far from the 
famous old Lafayette elm, still stands, although its glory has departed. 
One can see that the gardens must once have descended in terraces to 
what is now Kennebunk’s main street, while the old elm stood on the 
estate. Beneath this tree, with its enormous spreading branches, luncheon 
was served the soldiers who escorted Lafayette on the occasion of his 
visit to the town. It was purchased not many years ago, by a tree lover, 
with sufficient land around it, and presented to the town, while props 



6^ The First American Baronet ^§5 


281 


have been placed under the largest spreading limbs, to insure long 
life. 

Although not in the best repair, the Storer dwelling is substantial 
looking. Once it entertained brilliantly many distinguished guestsj 
among them Lafayette, although he had rooms in the tavern not far 
away. President Monroe stayed with the Storers in 1817. The host 
was then a prosperous business man, but even after much of the family 
wealth had been lost, the last of the name to occupy the old house was 
always called Madam Storer, and the town was proud of her, declaring 
that she was “ a real aristocrat.” 

Through the roof of the barn there grows a very large elm, and no 
one could explain how this happened. Another house not far from the 
mansion was the original farm dwelling, and now serves as a residence 
for several families. 

It seems probable that the larger one was the u mansion ” built 
by Colonel Joseph Storer, who came from Wells to Kennebunk in 
1757. He may or may not have been a descendant of Joseph, one of 
four Storers living in Wells between 1641 and 1687. That Joseph’s 
house was the principal garrison house, built in 1690, and surrounded 
by a large palisade. In 1705, while four Storer children were playing 
outside it they were set upon by Indians, two killed, and the other two 
carried off. 

This first Joseph Storer came to Wells in 1661, with his mother 
and stepfather, Austin. The latter kept a tavern, but Joseph, when he 
grew to manhood, engaged in the lumber business, and when he died, 
in 1730, was the wealthiest man in town, leaving an estate valued at 
$5,000, and a half dozen silver spoons! His two sons, John and Francis, 
were shipbuilders, building early coasters. John enlisted in a company 
to go on the Louisburg expedition, under William Pepperell’s com¬ 
mand, and set out for Boston from Wells by water. 

This expedition tried the endurance of the Yankee troops, for every 
night in foggy weather, for fourteen days they had to drag their artil¬ 
lery and supplies over bogs and morasses, but after fifty days, Louis¬ 
burg surrendered, and Storer reached home safely. 



282 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


How primitive the early Maine dwellings were may be realized 
from a description given of the house of Edward Littlefield, the “ rich¬ 
est man in town.” It contained one large room, used as kitchen and for 
all ordinary purposes, with but two bedrooms, although at one time 
the family consisted of the parents and six children. 

Tobias Lord of Kennebunk was with Captain Littlefield of the 
same town at Burgoyne’s surrender. A ship builder, Lord had the mis¬ 
fortune to lose several of his ships, and this so crippled him financially 
that he was on the verge of bankruptcy, but William Gray, of Salem, 
told him to continue his business, as he would lend Lord money, having 
full confidence in his integrity. Lord did continue, and was soon able to 
repay the loan. In 1790, he built the fine three story house still stand¬ 
ing on Kennebunk’s main street. This is probably the one known as the 
Robert W. Lord house, set high above the present street level. It was 
originally of salt box type, but has been enlarged and modernized. 

It was at one time the home of Jonas Clark, son of the Reverend 
Jonas who harbored John Adams and John Hancock on the eve of the 
Battle of Lexington, in the house in that town already described. Jonas, 
Junior, made voyages to the south and to the West Indies, and at one 
time was chased close to shore by British vessels. He stayed for some 
time in Portsmouth, Virginia, then went into business in Portland, 
Maine, and according to one chronicler, retired in 1790 to this house. 
There seems to be a slight confusion, for Tobias Lord was said to have 
built the house in that same year. Jonas Clark became Collector of the 
Port in this district in 1800, and built on the present front of the house. 

In 1820, the grandfather of the gentleman now living next door, 
Mr. William E. Barry, bought the property. Mr. Barry, an enthusiastic 
antiquarian and retired architect, recently restored the old Jeffords 
Tavern at his own expense, simply because he could not bear to see it 
falling to pieces. 

His own house is another fine example of those built by well-to-do 
Maine sea captains, in the palmy days of our merchant marine. In the 
spacious rooms on both floors are beautiful woodwork and mantels, 
apparently elaborately carved, but the graceful ornamentation, the ar- 



6?^ The First American Baronet )&$5 


283 


tistic designs, are really fashioned of u London putty,” fastened on so 
well that they still adhere tightly, showing no traces of where they 
are joined to the wood. The nature of the ornamentation was not sus¬ 
pected until, in overhauling the attic, a box full of unused ornaments 
was discovered. 

This house is wonderfully well built, with twelve-foot ceilings, two- 
foot underpinnings, two feet high, and with an eight-inch thick brick 
wall with an airspace between it and the outer walls of wood, thus in¬ 
suring protection against the bitter cold of winter. It has a beautiful 
winding staircase with two landings, the rail of mahogany. Retired sea 
captains usually had mahogany trim in the fine houses which they built 
for themselves along the New England coast, and it is in seaport towns, 
as a rule, that the handsomest old houses are found in New England. 

Another Kennebunk house, almost a hundred and forty years old, 
is now the Snapdragon Inn, and interesting for two reasons. It is the 
first double house, or double tenement, built in this town. In a sitting 
room is an open fireplace of good size, but looking up into the chimney, 
one may still see the ancient crane of the original far larger fireplace. 
Another noteworthy feature is the wainscoting in the dining room. It 
is about three feet high, and running across the entire front of the 
room, is made from a single plank. 

The city of Portland was burned by the British under Mowatt in 
1775, but the Longfellow house is old, and since it is owned by the 
Maine Historical Society, is open to visitors. 

This, the first brick dwelling in Portland, was built in 1785 by Gen¬ 
eral Peleg Wadsworth, a distinguished Revolutionary soldier, on part 
of a tract of land granted him by Congress for his services. Save for 
the addition of a third story, and the removal of the original ell it is 
much as when he occupied it. Here the General lived for some years, 
several of his children being born in the fine new house. One of his 
sons, Henry Wadsworth, a lieutenant in the United States Navy, was 
killed during the Tripoli engagement in 1804, his commander being 
Commodore Preble. The Preble house, built in 1807, stood next door 
to that of the Wadsworths until quite recently, when it was torn down. 




284 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


One of Commodore Preble’s sons, Scammell, served on the ship, the 
Constitution, in the War of 1812. 

Finally, General Wadsworth removed to Hiram, and gave the 
Portland house to his son-in-law, Stephen Longfellow. The poet was 
not born here but in another recently torn down. To the Wadsworth 
house, however, the poet came as a baby, and here his younger brothers 
and sisters were born, including his sister, Anne Longfellow Pierce, who 
at her death willed the property to the Historical Society. Stephen 
Longfellow added the third story in 1815, and also built on a small 
vestibule entrance to the large room at the right of the main hall, which 
he used as his law office. 

The house stands almost on a level with the sidewalk, from which 
it is separated by an iron fence, with large brick pillars. On the first 
floor are four large rooms, and a hall running through to the rear. The 
front room at the left, the largest in Portland when the house was 
built, has been the scene of many festivities, weddings, etc., and also 
of many funerals. Behind it and connecting, is a smaller room, originally 
General Peleg’s bedroom, and later used by the poet as a study. Here 
he is said to have written his poem, The Rainy Day. 

Across the hall from this room is the kitchen, now fitted with old 
time utensils. It has the great fireplace of its period. 

On the third story are seven good sized rooms. The front one on 
the left was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s as a young man, and it is 
said that he always preferred to occupy this when he returned home on 
visits. The rear room on the same side was occupied by him and his 
two brothers when children, and in this he wrote his first poems. Across 
the hall is the apartment of Miss Lucia Wadsworth, a devoted maiden 
aunt to two generations of Longfellow children. 

The house has fine old mantels, that in the second floor guest room 
set in the old time paneled wall. Many fine pieces of old furniture, pic¬ 
tures, coats-of-arms, china, etc., have been left in their places, or col¬ 
lected from members of the family, making of the house an interesting 
museum. 

It came into the possession of the Historical Society in 1901, with 




Stairway 'in the house now used by the Historical Association of Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire. In this house John Paul [ones stayed while one of his vessels was being 
fitted out, during the Revolution. At that time it was a boarding house. 



The stairway, with beautifully carved spindles, and some of the old wall paper still 
on the walls of the Moffet-Ladd house, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 



























































Garrison house over 252 years old, at Dover, New Hampshire. This is practically as 
when built. The overhang is very distinct. The chief change was made when the 
windows were enlarged, some 75 years ago. 



The Sir William Pepperell house, Kittery 
Point, Maine. This mansion —of which 
only a portion remains — was built by the 
first American baronet, Sir William. 



Moffet-Ladd house from the Garden, 
Portsmouth. 










The First American Baronet ^5 


285 


the proviso that the main rooms on the first floor be preserved practically 
as they were, and this has been strictly adhered to. By removing the ell, 
sufficient space was made in the rear for the library building, another 
requirement of the will. 

A curious story is told of a house still standing in Wiscasset. 

Now known as the Marie Antoinette house, occupied during the 
summer months, it is said to have been destined as a refuge for that 
unhappy queen. Skeptics remark that a similar legend is told about an 
old house in Salem, Massachusetts, and of one in still another town. 

The owner who fitted out his home for this purpose, as the tale 
is told in Wiscasset, was one Captain Stephen Clough. Mr. Stinson of 
this town has discovered the registry in the Custom House there of the 
Captain’s ship, the Sally, in 1791, just previous to the voyage which 
Clough is alleged to have made to France. There is said to be another 
registry of the Sally’s clearing for France, which he has not yet been 
able to discover. 

On this tradition has been written a novel, by a late citizen of 
Wiscasset, which still circulates among summer visitors. It is entitled: 
The Royal Tragedy. 

This is all of the story that can be learned. If Captain Clough 
really took the voyage, what happened to prevent the success of the 
plan to aid the hapless Queen to escape seems destined to remain un¬ 
known. 





XIII 



($f( Stories Thrilling and Romantic in Connecticut ^5 


X f one enters Connecticut from the east, before reaching Williman- 
tic the quaint, charming village of Brooklyn may be visited, full of 
associations with the patriot and hero, General Israel Putnam. Although 
he was born in Salem, Massachusetts, he came here as a young man, and 
here he died. 

This old time village has its Green, through which the main high¬ 
road cuts diagonally, and fine old trees are plentiful. Here are some 
old houses, a few new ones, and the Town Hall, while on the Green 
itself stand two old churches, one, the Unitarian, a typical New Eng¬ 
land “ meeting house,” of wood, painted white, with a tall steeple. 
Here, too, is a village pump, even though a modern stone canopy now 
protects those who come for water. 

Almost opposite the pump, on the far side of another highroad 
which skirts the lower end of the Green, is a boulder, to which is affixed 
a tablet. This sets forth that “ In this field, behind this stone, after 
the close of the French and Indian war, Colonel Israel Putnam lived 
with his second wife, and dispensed hospitality in the Gen. Wolfe 
Tavern.” In the field nearby, Putnam was plowing when he received 
news of the Battle of Lexington. Leaving the plow in the furrough, 
as the familiar old story tells, he and his son, Daniel, set out, and rode 
the hundred miles to Cambridge in eighteen hours. There the Gen¬ 
eral planned and later commanded at the Battle of Bunker Hill. As a 
result'of his services there, Washington commissioned him Major Gen¬ 
eral, the first in the Revolutionary Army, and the only one confirmed 


286 



($${ Stories Thrilling and Romantic ^5 


287 


unanimously. This appointment made him second to Washington him¬ 
self. 

No trace of the tavern remains, but three and a half miles from the 
village, now as then a private residence, is the big old-fashioned farm¬ 
house wherein he died. For a time, this was Brooklyn’s Poor Farm. 

South from Willimantic is quaint old Lebanon. Extending over 
quite a large tract, the actual village consists of a church, a Town Hall, 
a couple of stores with the Post Office, and a dozen or more houses 
around the Green, or close to this centre. 

Only a few hundred yards from the Green, on a road at the side 
of the church, stands the fine old Governor Trumbull house, a private 
residence now as always, occupied by a connection of the Trumbulls 
and descendant of another old Connecticut family, who loves and cares 
for the historic dwelling with appreciative interest. 

Governor Trumbull was very decidedly the big man of this section. 
He built the first grist mill, which still stands, painted red, beside the 
pond at the foot of the hill as one continues past the Green. His house, 
built in 1740, originally stood on the corner near the Green, but was 
moved a number of years ago to the present site. It had passed out of the 
Trumbull family then, and this fine, substantial old house was actually 
sold for $100. 

It is one of those square, two-storied white wooden dwellings so 
characteristic of old New England, with a sitting room on one, a formal 
parlor on the other side of the entry, with its staircase winding up to 
the second story. Behind the sitting room is the big kitchen, with great 
fireplace, large brick Dutch oven, and a cupboard, in whose doors are 
heart-shaped openings. Big fireplaces are in the other rooms as well, 
and H and HL hinges abound. On the massive front door, with its old 
brass knocker, is a pair of fine long strap hinges. 

The parlor shutters are all hand made, joined with wooden pegs, 
and each has its circular peephole at the top. All the woodwork is hand 
hewn, and the doors, including the outer front one are unique, in that 
the lower half has one diagonal cross piece. 

In the parlor are preserved Governor Trumbull’s chair, high, 



288 Historic Houses of Early America 


straight backed, solid and substantial, and that of his wife, less massive, 
but equally straight backed. These chairs were used by the pair in their 
big square church pew, and were shown in the Connecticut house at the 
St. Louis Exposition. 

The artist, son of Governor Trumbull, was born in the Lebanon 
home} in its sitting room he is said to have made his first drawings in 
the sand which then covered the floor, and now an engraving made in 
London of one of his historical paintings hangs on its wall. That he 
had great talent is shown by a photograph here of his self-painted 
portrait when he had then received no instruction. 

Another photograph reproduces his portrait of his parents, the 
original in the State House at Hartford. The young artist, still un¬ 
taught when he painted it, was deeply interested in the early Dutch 
artists, so instead of depicting his parents as the New Englanders that 
they were, he dressed them and painted them as a Dutch burgher and 
his wife. This portrait hung in the Connecticut house at the Chicago 
World’s Fair, for which occasion a frame was made for it of boards 
from the old Trumbull attic. 

John Trumbull, the artist, served his country with distinction, 
rose to the rank of colonel in the Continental Army, and afterwards 
held a number of diplomatic posts in Europe. He studied painting 
there under Benjamin West and others, and painted portraits of many 
prominent men. Four of his works are in the Rotunda of the Capitol 
in Washington, others hang in the Metropolitan Museum, New York 
City, the Hartford Athenaeum, etc. 

If the artist has been mentioned first, it is not with any slight to 
his distinguished father. Governor Trumbull was very highly thought 
of by his fellow patriots. He was “ Washington’s right hand man dur¬ 
ing the northern campaigns, and when any perplexing question or press¬ 
ing demand arose, he would say: ‘Let us see what Brother Jonathan 
says.’ ” 1 

After wintering at Morristown, in the spring of 1780, Washington 
wrote to Governor Trumbull, imploring help, and sent the letter by 

1 Tourists ' Guide to Connecticut , Rawson W. Haddon. 



Stories Thrilling and Romantic ^5 


289 


special courier from his headquarters. In a very short time, Governor 
Trumbull gave the courier a sealed answer to carry back to the Com¬ 
mander-in-chief, who after reading it remarked: “ If the Lord would 
make windows in heaven might this thing be! ” The letter stated that 
on a certain day and hour he, Washington, would receive at Newburgh 
by wagon train from Hartford 200 pounds of flour, 100 pounds of 
beef, and another 100 pounds of pork. The Governor requested 
that an armed guard be sent to meet the train. 

Washington did not believe that this news could be possible, but 
sent the required guard, and at the appointed hour they saw the wagon 
train approaching, with the addition of a drove of cattle from Colonel 
Henry Champion, the Commissary General. Animals and supplies were 
then taken across the Hudson in small boats. 

The whole village of Lebanon was intensely patriotic, and more 
than five hundred men from it alone at one time served in the Revo¬ 
lutionary Army. Delauzun’s legion of five hundred horsemen camped 
here for one winter, a little west of the church, and according to Bar¬ 
ber, Rochambeau stayed here for three weeks with five regiments 
which Washington reviewed, spending three days in Lebanon at that 
time, doubtless the guest of his friend, Governor Trumbull. He found 
the French troops “ under the most perfect discipline.” 

An old building in Lebanon has had a varied history. Originally an 
office for a busy man, Trumbull, it became the War Office of the State 
during the Revolution, and more than eleven hundred meetings or 
councils were held within its walls, for Washington, Rochambeau, La¬ 
fayette, Jefferson, Franklin, and other prominent men of the day came 
to Lebanon, and were entertained in the Trumbull mansion. 

After the Revolution, the old War Office was several times moved, 
and finally was owned by seven sisters, the oldest ninety years old, when 
it was purchased by the Sons of the Revolution, and restored as nearly 
as possible to its original state. During the summer months, it is open 
to the public on payment of a small fee. 

Lebanon claims to be the birthplace of another American painter, 
Ralph Earle, born in 1751, and of Elkanah Tisdale, engraver, and “ an 



2 9 ° Historic Houses of Early America 


excellent miniature painter, but he has lately taken to writing poetry, 
which is as great an hinderance to punctuality as taking to liquor,” so an 
early local chronicle gravely assures one. 

Hartford is too modernized now to offer historic houses of in¬ 
terest, but a few miles north, at Windsor, will be found several. 

This, the oldest town in Connecticut, originally included what are 
now known as East Windsor and South Windsor. Here Roger and 
Oliver Wolcott, both Governors of Connecticut, and Oliver Ellsworth, 
one of her United States Senators, were born. The Ellsworth house, 
which was originally the Fyler, standing on land granted to Lieutenant 
Fyler for his services during the Pequot War, has been taken over 
by the Windsor Association, filled with old furniture and other 
relics, and a tearoom is now open in its quaint, low-ceiled ground floor 
rooms. 

A short distance south of Hartford is Wethersfield, another of 
those quaint Connecticut villages, shaded by great elms, with a Green, 
and a number of square, white old-fashioned houses, lining the main 
street. 

Here is the beautiful old Webb house, once known as Hospitality 
Hall, because of the lavish hospitality which its owner dispensed to 
many notable guests, among them Washington, Rochambeau and La¬ 
fayette. 

The original building on this site is believed to have been one story 
high, of brick, and its roof line can be seen in the ell. The present front, 
consisting of four rooms on each of two floors, with an attic over all, 
was added much later. The early part dates from the 17th, the latter 
from the 18th century. 

The newer rooms have high ceilings, the northeast apartment on the 
lower floor being especially beautiful, with white wood paneling, carved 
doorways and mantels, and its rare example of a “ Christian door ” with 
a double barred cross in the upper portion, a diagonal one in the lower. 
The most conspicuous other examples of this variety are the front doors 
of the Old North Church, Boston. Of course, such doors, with HL 
hinges, were supposed to be doubly efficacious in keeping off witches. 



Stories Thrilling and Romantic ^§5 


291 


The Webb attic has a “ Witch closet,” where witches were to be locked 
safely, although how they were to be induced to enter it, and why lock 
and key might be relied on to keep them there, seems hard to under¬ 
stand. 

The southeast room on the first floor is known as the Council Room, 
because it is told that Washington and Rochambeau here planned to¬ 
gether the siege of Yorktown. 

During the summer months, the Society of Colonial Dames, now 
owning the place, fill the house with loaned old furniture, serve tea in 
the old garden, and visitors are then admitted on payment of a fee. 
The Dames have furthermore re-papered the house with reproduc¬ 
tions of old papers, save that in the northeast upper room, occupied not 
once but several times by Washington, the original has remained. 

Still further south, in Meriden, is the interesting house built in 
1711 by Samuel Goffe, and now an inn. The great cellar with massive 
walls, and the old kitchen with huge fireplace are especially interesting. 
The regicide judges, Goffe and Whaley are said to have been hidden 
for several days in “ Pilgromes Harbor,” a swamp about a mile east of 
Meriden. 

Several other towns in another part of the State contain interesting 
old houses. 

One is Washington, first town in the United States to be named 
after the First President. Originally part of Judea Parish, which in¬ 
cluded Woodbury, Litchfield, New Milford, and other towns, it was 
made a separate community, and named in 1779. 

The Red House, always a private residence, still stands on the 
Green. Built about 1772, it was occupied at the outbreak of the Revolu¬ 
tion by two brothers, Joel and Leman Stone. The former was an ardent 
Loyalist, his brother an equally ardent Patriot. To express their senti¬ 
ments, each resorted to interior decoration. The Patriot, on the walls of 
one room had vines painted, forming oval spaces, in which were alter¬ 
nately a deer and an eagle. The eagle’s head was surrounded by thirteen 
stars, and above were the words: Federal Union. 

The west room was decorated by the Loyalist with pictures of British 



292 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


war ships and similar British objects. Not a trace of these decorations has 
remained, but those of the Patriot are still distinct. 

Not far from Washington is Litchfield, with many old houses, some 
left as nearly as possible in the original form, others much modernized, 
and summer homes for city people. Litchfield has long been popular 
with the latter, nor can one wonder, for it is beautifully situated on a 
hill, with extensive views, its broad old streets are shaded by fine elms, 
and a general air of peace pervades it. 

Almost all of the old houses have some historic associations. In its 
early days, the place was surrounded by a palisade to protect it from the 
Indians, who roamed and hunted near Bantam, named for the Indian 
tribe, and lying on the road between Waterbury and Litchfield. During 
the Revolution, Litchfield was an important military depot. 

To the Governor Wolcott house, still standing in good condition on 
South Street, was brought the statue of King George III, when de¬ 
posed from its pedestal on Bowling Green, New York City. This gilded 
statue when removed, was found to be made of lead. 

Oliver Wolcott, Senior, was born and spent his boyhood in Windsor, 
represented it in the General Assembly, and was a member of the Coun¬ 
cil. He removed to Litchfield as soon as that town was made the county 
seat, became a judge, representative in Congress, and was present when 
the Declaration of Independence was read. 

It was he who suggested bringing the king’s statue to Litchfield, 
and his grandson later used to tell how, as a boy, he remembered when 
it arrived, and a shed was built in the orchard to hold it temporarily. 
The grandson’s father, Oliver, Junior, broke it up with an axe. 

Most of the statue, except a part now in the possession of the New 
York Historical Society, was duly melted and run into bullets by 
Mrs. Marvin, Mr. and Mrs. Wolcott, “ and besides, the ladies made 
42,000 cartridges.” 

After the war was over, Oliver Wolcott, Senior, went to Hartford, 
and in 1784, with Oliver Ellsworth, Senior, and William Samuel John¬ 
son, helped adjust the claims of the State of Connecticut against the 
United States. He later became Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut. 



6?^ Stories Thrilling and Romantic 


293 


The Deming house on North Street was built by William Spratts, 
said to have been Connecticut’s first professional architect. He studied 
in London, and fought in the British Navy during the Revolution, but 
after peace was made, remained in America, and in 1790 began work 
on this house for Captain Julius Deming, Assistant Commissary General 
in the patriot army. 

On Prospect Street, is the old Congregational parsonage. Here, 
while pastor from 1810 to 1826, lived Lyman Beecher, “father of 
more brains than any other man in America,” and here Harriet Beecher 
Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher were born. 

The beautiful old house on North Street, built in 1760 by Elisha 
Sheldon, was turned into a tavern by his son, and during that time 
Washington stayed there. Again a private residence, it has been re¬ 
modeled and enlarged, though in such a way as to preserve some of its 
old charm, and is now a handsome summer home. 

Many more stately, handsome old houses here might be enumer¬ 
ated, but these are the most important historically. 

If one enters Connecticut by a different route, just north of New 
London is the village of Uncasville. In 1681, the rather friendly Indian 
chief, Unchas, complained of “ much damage to his corn by English 
horses.” He died about 1682, and lies beneath a monument in Indian 
Cemetery, Norwich. But this village is named for a later Uncas. 

The indefatigable John Winthrop, Junior, settled on Fisher’s Is¬ 
land, building what is said to have been the first English dwelling in 
the Pequot country. In 1643, he established iron works at Lyme, Con¬ 
necticut, and Braintree, Massachusetts, bringing implements, men and 
stock from England. Lyme was settled before this, for the Thomas Lee 
house still preserved there was presumably built in 1640, but at first 
the meadows along the river were cultivated under difficulties, the 
workers coming from Saybrook for the purpose, and arming themselves 
with guns and pikes. John Winthrop, Junior, built himself a stone 
house in New London, in 1648. 

New London was burned in 1781, by the British under the traitor, 
Benedict Arnold, and only a very few houses survived. Of these, in the 



294 dfy ( Historic Houses of Early America 


u Ancientest Burial Ground ” stands as a museum, open at certain 
hours to the public, the little story and a half building, now painted red, 
in which Nathan Hale taught school before joining the Army, which 
was to mean his early and tragic death. 

Here, too, is the Hempstead house, said to have been built about 
1646. Almost behind the Huguenot house, it is so hemmed in by mod¬ 
ern residences that it is difficult to find, although its old roof and massive 
chimney are visible from several streets. Of it the story is told that at 
the time the British arrived in New London, the family had planned 
a reunion, the table was set out bravely, and when the soldiers appeared, 
the hostess offered to give them all the good things which she had pre¬ 
pared for her guests if they would spare her house. The men agreed, 
but after they had enjoyed the food, although they kept their word, 
they repaired to her cellar, and drained the bottles and barrels of wine 
and liquors which they found stored there. 

The Huguenot house, now a gift shop and tearoom, with the cus¬ 
tomary big old fireplaces and cupboards, low-ceiled, is interesting not 
only because it is picturesque, with its brick walls almost entirely covered 
by vines, which enwreath the chimneys at both ends, but because of the 
reason for which it was spared. It is told that a British soldier had been 
ill and nursed here prior to the burning of New London. In return, he 
was able to save the house. 

Down on Bank Street, once the actual bank of the river, but now 
some distance away, stands the fine old Shaw mansion, since 1907 the 
property of the New London County Historical Society. Of stone, with 
a basement, two stories and attic, with dormer windows, and having a 
large three story wing, this is interesting for many reasons. 

On its site, on Shaw’s Cove, as this part of New London was then 
called, was a stone quarry, owned by Nathaniel Shaw, who came to the 
town in 1733, as Commissioner of Lands. When a ship arrived with 
three hundred Acadians, and these were landed in town destitute, they 
begged for work. Shaw set them to work in the quarry, and with the 
stone they dug out, they built this spacious mansion. 

Mounting a flight of steps, a narrow veranda runs across the front. 



6?^ Stories Thrilling and Romantic ^§5 


295 


A hall goes directly through to the rear, where there is still a stretch 
of rising ground, terminating in a small hill. This and more land con¬ 
stituted the original beautiful garden, where many entertainments were 
given by Mr. Shaw. A large drawing room with three wide windows 
lies in front, at the right of the entrance, and behind is a smaller dining 
room, while across the hall are two more large parlors. The staircase 
ascends to a broad hall, with windows overlooking the garden. Known 
as the saloon this was a favorite sitting room with the Shaw family. 
Bannisters and handrail of the stairs are of solid mahogany. The story 
goes that one of the Acadian refugees was by trade a wood carver. 
He had no tools when he landed, but borrowed some, and from mahog¬ 
any shipped into New London, made this fine bannister, rail and newel 
post. 

There are five former bedrooms on this second floor, all but one 
now filled with the Society’s interesting collections. The exception is 
the southeast chamber always occupied by Washington on his visits to 
this house. Here is a great fireplace, set in a paneled wall, but un¬ 
fortunately the old mantel was replaced some ninety years ago by a 
black and white marble one. In this room are the original carved four- 
post bedstead in which Washington slept, with a little table, bureau, 
and several other old pieces of mahogany furniture which, if not always 
standing in this room, were at least part of the original furnishings of 
the house. 

The Daughters of the American Revolution hold their meetings 
here, and have been active in securing old furniture, etc. for it. Por¬ 
traits of the Shaw family and connections hang on the walls. Here 
are Nathaniel and his wife, Temperance, a stern visaged old lady. Here 
are the sons, Thomas “ who never did anything,” the second Nathaniel, 
who was Commissioner of Supplies for the American Army and Navy 
during the Revolution, and his wife, Lucretia, whose name the local 
Daughters of the American Revolution have chosen for their chapter. 
She was active in nursing and feeding the three hundred American 
prisoners of war, landed from the British ship, Jersey, in New London 
harbor. They were in a dreadful condition from illness, and through 



296 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


her kindness in visiting them, and helping to find them lodgings, Mrs. 
Shaw lost her life, for, as it proved, the unfortunates were ill with 
typhoid fever, she caught the disease and died, thus giving her life for 
her country as truly as did any soldier. 

Among interesting articles that may be seen in the old house are 
one of the earliest American naval flags ; the sword of Traitor Arnold, 
after its handle had been broken off, the sword itself twisted out of 
shape, and the barrel in which was brought the powder used for burning 
New London, under his directions. 

Across the river from New London, and originally forming part 
of it, is Groton. Here still stands the Ebenezer Avery house, to which 
the British carried a large number of wounded Americans at the time 
of the surrender of Fort Trumbull. The house was set on fire, but they 
extinguished the flames, and, leaving the wounded behind, piled in 
heaps on the floor, after blowing up the fort, departed. In this house 
next day, the wives, mothers and sisters of the wounded men found 
them; often the particular man sought was not found until the 
searcher had bathed the blood and grime from the faces of a number of 
others. 

Here, too, in Groton stands the house in which, during the War of 
1812 lived “ Mother Bailey.” When flannel was much needed for gun 
wadding, this lady donated her red flannel petticoat, thus winning fame 
in later days. 

Saybrook is filled with old houses, but these have little of special 
interest attached. Down by the ferry there still stands the old Hezekiah 
Whittlesey house, modernized, and a private residence. Aside from the 
fact that it is probably at least one hundred and fifty years old, it is in¬ 
teresting chiefly because Whittlesey was given permission to operate a 
ferry here at an early date. 

The four oldest settlements in Connecticut are Wethersfield, Wind¬ 
sor, Hartford and Saybrook, and although the date of settlement for 
the oldest, Windsor, is given as 1633, it is probable that some kind of 
huts stood on the site even earlier. 

The town of Guilford, on the old Boston Post Road, offers some 



Stories Thrilling and Romantic ^§5 


297 


fascinating old houses, most of them in excellent condition, and a group 
of these with decidedly interesting histories. First perhaps should be 
mentioned the C)ld Stone House, now a State museum. 

Built of stone, set far back from the street, on a slight elevation, 
from which a well kept lawn now slopes gently down, the exterior of 
this venerable house looks older than the interior. Authorities seem 
pretty generally agreed that the north end, with its great chimney, the 
front, and the foundations are original, built about 1639, while the 
eastern end, at one time consisting of five small rooms, was added later, 
but still at an early period. The old timbered roof was replaced 
for fireproof reasons by one of slate, when the house was taken 
over by the State. But the interior has been the subject of much dis¬ 
cussion. 

Entering the front door — the house is open daily and free to the 
public — one finds himself in a spacious hall, the roof two stories above, 
with the old chimney at one end, and a more modern, but still large 
one at the other. A flight of stairs sufficiently broad, and with fine ban¬ 
nister, leads to the rooms on the second floor, not above the large hall, 
but over small rear rooms. Wainscoting extends to a height of three or 
four feet in the lower hall or room, with plaster above, and a modern 
plaster ceiling on wooden cross beams. Certainly one is tempted at first 
sight to pronounce hall and stairway distinctly modern in design and 
plan, even aside from the restoration admittedly done when the State 
acquired the property. It resembles rather the hall of a baronial home, 
than the dwelling of a pioneer minister. But its date may not be thus 
briefly determined, for tradition says that the front part of the house 
was built of such unusual size and height that it might serve as a 
church, until another building could be erected. Tradition further as¬ 
serts that the house included this large hall, and three small additional 
rooms only, although Mr. Whitfield’s family consisted of a wife and 
nine children. It adds as explanation that, not long before the Whit¬ 
fields came over to America, “ the eldest daughters even of country 
squires, slept with the serving maids, the boys with the men servants, 
in the common hall.” The statement the “the large hall could be 



298 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


divided, when not in use for services, by movable partitions, resembling 
Venetian blinds,” may be taken or left, as the reader pleases. There 
probably was an attic, even as now, in the steep roof above the entire 
building. 

The Reverend Henry Whitfield was born in England in 1597, and 
educated at Oxford. Although Barber, in 1838, in his history of Con¬ 
necticut, stated that Whitfield was never separated from the Church of 
England, but merely brought his little flock to the New World, and 
founded a new congregation, others say that like the Barnstable Loth- 
rop, he did differ with the English church authorities, resigned his 
charge there, and escaped probable imprisonment by emigrating. At all 
events, in 1639 he came, and the little group settled on land purchased 
from the Indians, one condition being that the latter leave the vicinity 
at once. 

This, the oldest stone house in New England, was probably begun 
in the autumn of the year of Whitfield’s arrival. As to this date, too, 
authorities differ, but as Whitfield died in 1657, and two years later, 
there are records of the sale, by his son, of what had been the father’s 
residence, it at least is venerable enough. 

It is believed that at some time during the 18th century, the high 
front portion was divided into two stories, for when the building was 
restored, a fireplace in one end, of more modern construction than those 
below, was discovered at the second story floor level. The consensus of 
opinion, when the house was restored, led to the present arrangement, 
and the only reason for leaving plaster on the walls above the wainscot¬ 
ing and on the ceiling was the additional expense involved in removing 
it and replacing it with boards. 

Whitfield returned to England in 1650, and offered to sell house 
and lands to the town, which was too poor to buy them. Mrs. Whitfield 
and her son, Nathaniel, remained behind to settle up affairs, and in 
1657 Whitfield died. Two years later, the town, through Deputy 
Governor Leete, later Governor of the New Haven colony, offered to 
buy it, but the offer was not accepted. Finally, Nathaniel sold it to 
Major Robert Thompson of London, one of five brothers who came to 



Stories Thrilling and Romantic 


299 


this country, all the others settling in Virginia. His son-in-law, Sir Wil¬ 
liam Ashurst, head of a missionary society, succeeded to the property, 
and entailed it. Later the entail was broken, and the property sold to 
Wyllys Eliot, a descendant of John, that early preacher to the Indians. 
Then it passed to Joseph Lynchon, a loyalist, and when he left the coun¬ 
try, in 1776, he sold it to Joseph Griffing, a patriot refugee from Long 
Island. The State of Connecticut has owned it since 1900, and it is now 
filled with documents, rare pieces of furniture, a strange old clock which 
used to hang in Guilford meeting house steeple, a Guilford chest, and 
old communion silver, the property of the Congregational Church, 
Guilford, etc. 

Next in interest, perhaps, is the cellar in which the two regicide 
judges, GoflFe and Whalley, were sheltered for several days. Beneath 
the large barn belonging to the house at the end of Broad Street may 
be seen this cellar, only a portion of the present one. It belonged 
originally to a store used by Deputy Governor Leete, and his house 
was close by. The house is gone, but its probable site was not far from 
the present none too modern one near the barn. 

When the High Court of Justice met to try King Charles I, twelve 
were relatives of Cromwell. Of the three who came to America, Edward 
Whalley was his cousin, and had fought with distinction in his army, 
especially distinguishing himself at Naseby, in 1645. The following 
year, Parliament made Whalley a colonel, in consequence, and later 
voted him thanks, and £100 with which to buy himself two horses. 
Cromwell committed the king’s person to his care, and he was generally 
regarded as a man of unimpeachable integrity. 

William Goffe, Whalley’s son-in-law, was an Oxford honorary 
Master of Arts. As a boy apprenticed to a merchant, he entered the 
army later, and in time Cromwell gave him command of his own old 
regiment, the Ironsides. GoflFe was a gifted public speaker, and was 
thought of as a possible successor to Cromwell. 

John Dixwell, the third judge, was a wealthy gentleman of Kent, 
a colonel, and elected to Parliament. 

When Cromwell divided England into eleven military districts, 



300 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


each with a major general in command, Goffe and Whalley were two 
of these. 

After Charles II came to the throne, of the judges who had signed 
his father’s death sentence, twenty-four were dead, sixteen had fled 
the country, and twenty-nine were sentenced to death, one of whom, 
through influence was pardoned. Whalley and Goffe left England be¬ 
fore Charles II returned and, on July 27th, 1660, arrived in Boston 
under the names of Richardson and Stephenson. 

^ The two called on Governor Endicott, who received them courte¬ 
ously. He had no reason to do otherwise, for news of Charles’ accession 
had not arrived. They went to Cambridge to rest. 

While they were there, a fencing master came to Boston, and one 
day in the streets, challenged anyone to meet him. Then appeared a man 
in rustic dress, with a broomstick for weapon, armed with a cheese for 
defense, and took up the challenge. The mirth of the fencing master 
and bystanders may be imagined. But soon the fencer found that he had 
more than met his match, and when he demanded that his opponent 
meet him with a real sword, the latter rebuked him, saying that the 
fencer knew very well that he was beaten, and turned to go. 

“Who can you be? ” cried the fencing master. “You are either 
Goffe, Whalley or the devil, for there was no other man in England 
who could beat me.” 

The Act of Indemnity did not, as perhaps they had hoped, include 
Goffe and Whalley. A royal proclamation denounced them as traitors, 
so when this news arrived in Boston, they started, February 26th, 1661, 
for New Haven. They stopped in Hartford and called on Governor 
Winthrop, who received them kindly, then arrived at Davenport’s 
house, New Haven, on March 7th. Here they stayed for two or three 
weeks, when again news of the king’s proclamation arrived, so they 
made a feint of starting for New York, but went only as far as Milford, 
showed themselves there, and that night returned to New Haven. 

Then came an order for their arrest from Governor Endicott. Two 
royalists, Kellond and Kirk, set out from Boston with letters to Gov¬ 
ernor Winthrop, asking his assistance. By May nth, Winthrop was 



Stories Thrilling and Romantic 


301 


dead, and Leete, the deputy, took his place. To him the royalists went 
with their papers, which Leete, for his own reasons, read aloud in sten¬ 
torian tones, until they begged him to desist. He told the two men that 
he had not seen the judges in nine weeks. 

A man named Scranton told the pursuers that Mr. Davenport of 
New Haven was known to have “ put in ten pounds worth of fresh 
provisions at one time into his house,” so the fugitives must be there. 
But Leete detained the royalists, who were anxious to set out at once 
for New Haven. It was the Sabbath (late Saturday afternoon), and 
nothing could be done on that day, even when another busybody, said 
to have been Leete’s enemy, reported that one of the Indians was miss¬ 
ing from the town, and that a man had been seen leaving on horseback, 
in the direction of New Haven. The man actually rode sixteen miles in 
one evening to warn Mr. Jones, to whose house in New Haven Whalley 
and Goffe had gone. 

Meanwhile, it was decided that Mr. Jones’ house was hardly a safe 
refuge, so the two men were again moved, this time to a mill about two 
miles away, owned by Mr. Jones. At one time, when pursuers were 
near, the two hid under a low bridge, crossing a small stream, and re¬ 
mained there while they were being hunted. After the party had gone, 
they returned to the mill. 

Two hours later, Governor Leete arrived in New Haven. The two 
royalists indignantly accused him of being but lukewarm in aiding them, 
murmured of treason, etc. It is said that during this time, Mrs. Aller- 
ton, second wife of the Mayflower voyager, hid them in a closet in the 
wainscoting, very difficult to find, and to make its existence even less 
suspected, she hung over the door u brassery and elegant kitchen furni¬ 
ture.” 

She let them out of her back door to go a short distance, and then 
return, whereupon she concealed them in this closet, and when searchers 
arrived, justified herself to her New England conscience by telling 
them that the two men had indeed been there, but had gone out of her 
back door. 

The royalists continued their search, going as far as the New York 



302 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


settlement, but in vain. On their return to Boston, they were each given 
a farm of 250 acres by the Massachusetts Committee. 

Then the two judges hid in a cave, still pointed out as the “ Judges’ 
Cave,” and marked with a tablet, at West Rock, New Haven. They are 
said to have taken to the woods, being driven from the cave from fear 
of wild beasts, for panthers, wolves and bears were common enough. 
Finally, they took refuge in Leete’s cellar in Guilford. According to an 
old chronicle, the Governor “ had a home on the east bank of the 
rivulet, and a store on the bank a few rods away from his house, and 
under it a cellar. Here they hid for three days and three nights, and 
the Governor afraid to see them.” Their presence must have embar¬ 
rassed him, and it is said that he never saw them officially, but sent them 
food from his own table by a trusted maid-servant, “ who long after 
was wont to glory in it that she had fed these heavenly men.” 

Finally the two returned to New Haven, and then went to Hatchet 
Harbor, in the present town of Woodbridge, so called because of the 
tale that one of the two expressed a wish for a hatchet, and promptly 
found one. Here they built a cabin, about a mile west of a spring, and 
faithful Mr. Jones from time to time sent supplies. 

Then they lived in Guilford. In time, they began going about here 
quite openly, and Goffe preached in their dwelling, but in 1664, a com¬ 
mission was sent from England to fix the boundaries, and was also 
charged to “ look for persons attainted for high treason,” so they started 
on another search for a safe hiding place, which they found in the home 
of one Russell, in Hadley, Massachusetts. A closet adjoining a large 
chimney in the north end of this house admitted by a trapdoor or a 
loose board in the floor, to a dark room from which there was access to 
a cellar, and this room became the “Judges’ chamber.” Here, and in 
other Hadley houses they lived for nearly twelve years, evidently feel¬ 
ing fairly safe. 

Goffe had for some time then corresponded with his wife in Eng¬ 
land, under the name of Walter Goldsmith, she writing to him as her 
“ dear son.” In 1665, Colonel Dixwell, who had fled from England to 
Germany, arrived. He spent several weeks in Hadley, then went to 



dfy{ Stories Thrilling and Romantic 


303 


New Haven, and under the name of James Davids, lived unmolested. 
Only once does he appear to have run some risk. One Sunday morning, 
Sir Edmund Andross happened to be in New Haven, and attended 
church. After service, he asked who that tall man was, and when told 
that his name was Davids, remarked that he was certainly a soldier, as 
could be told from his military bearing. Davids thought it prudent to 
remain away from service that evening. 

Whalley was first of the three to die, and was buried behind the 
Russell house, in Hadley. Some say that Goffe went to Hartford, and 
lived there for several years in the house of Captain Joseph Bull. 
Others say that he continued in Hadley until his death, in 1697, only 
once emerging from seclusion on the day when he rallied the Hadleyites 
to successful resistance to an Indian attack, as already mentioned. 

Davids won the esteem of his New Haven neighbors, and when a 
certain Mr. Ling died, was asked by the dying man to take care of his 
wife. This he did by marrying her shortly afterwards} she died two 
weeks later, and he came into u a handsome property of £900,” and 
later married Bathsheba Howe. They had children, and he lived to be 
eighty-two years old, dying in 1689. Before his death, he revealed 
his true name and identity to a few close friends. 

Four gravestones used to stand in New Haven’s public square, 
formerly the burial ground. These were supposed to mark the burial 
places of the three regicide judges, one of them apparently having two 
stones. But whether or not one of the three was buried here, it is doubt¬ 
ful if the second was, and certain that the third was not. 

Guilford’s present State Street was originally known as Crooked 
Lane} Fair Street was Petticoat Lane} St, Disbrow’s Lane is now Water 
Street, and Hog or South Lane bears the appropriate name of Whitfield 
Street. 

On State Street is the old Comfort Starr house, a square, two- 
story dwelling, still with the old wide planked floors, the big fireplaces. 
Comfort Starr was one of the early settlers, but the house has interest 
also because of the two tall walnut trees in front, near the old well 
still to be seen on the lawn. These trees were planted by a member of 



3°4 6 % Historic Houses of Early America 


the family in 1814, to mark the end of the war with England. A bit 
further up the street is the Lee house, built in 1763, at one time be¬ 
longing to one of the Starr family. Here at the time of the Revolution 
lived Captain Samuel Lee, and Agnes Dickinson Lee, his courageous 
wife. He was a lieutenant in the Coast Guards, very prompt and en¬ 
ergetic in dealing with the Tories, who caused much trouble during 
those years by their illicit trading, and constant aggressions, without 
actual warfare. Captain Lee was also much given to engaging in dis¬ 
cussions on Biblical subjects. 

In front of the house was a small cannon. When the British landed 
in 1781, on Leete’s Island nearby, Captain Lee was away from home, 
but Mrs. Lee fired the cannon to give the alarm. 

Lee’s house was constantly threatened, and at the time that the 
Tories burned Jared Bishop’s house, they came here too. Lee was again 
away, but they were met at the door by his intrepid wife, who informed 
the men, who had come to search for confiscated goods stored in an 
upper room, that they could not enter. When they burst in the door, 
three times they blew out her candle, and three times she re-lighted it. 
She stood in front of the door of the room in which the goods were 
stored, and informed the invaders of her home that they should pass 
only over her body. Levi Lee, her husband’s young brother, and a 
famous fifer, then came to her aid with his gun. She seized another, 
and assured him that she could load as fast as he could fire. The boy 
fired, the ball lodged in the side of a window, and the Tories with¬ 
drew. When voices were heard again outside, young Lee once more 
fired, and as the chronicler adds: “A North Guilford Tory was con¬ 
fined to his house with rheumatism for a long time thereafter.” 

When the Lees’ daughter, Rebecca, married Timothy Seward, 
Tories in town cut the ladies’ dresses, and put cords across the road to 
interfere with, or endanger the wedding party. At one time, when 
the Tories had set fire to another house, Mrs. Lee marched upstairs 
to her attic, which at the time was filled with ammunition, and calmly 
closed the window, that no sparks might enter. Lead was brought to 
the patriotic Lees’ home, and bullets molded and run there. Deserv- 






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The Captain Dayton house, Bethany, Connecticut. The scene of an attack by Tories, 

as described in The Stolen Boy. 



The cellar on Governor Leete’s place, in which two of the regicide judges hid. Now 
part of a barn on the property of one of Guilford’s citizens. 








6^ Stories Thrilling and Romantic ^§5 


305 


edly the pair are commemorated by a tablet on the front of the house, 
placed there by the Colonial Dames. 

The Hyland or Highland house—the name was written both 
ways — on the Boston Road, has been restored and opened as a mu¬ 
seum. Of wood, with a slightly overhanging upper story, and more 
modern leanto, the oldest part was built about 1660, the rest sixty 
years later. It has the usual features of its periodj the great fireplaces, 
low ceilings, and one of the unusual old stone sinks, with one end pro¬ 
jecting through the wall as a drain, like one found in an old Plymouth 
house. Aside from its age, it has no special interest save that within it 
Ebenezer Parmelee, grandson of the builder, George Hyland, in 1727 
built the old town clock, now shown in the Old Stone or Whitfield 
house. 

One more old dwelling on Union Street, set aslant, and facing 
south, was for a time open as a tearoom, but when seen in the autumn 
of 1926, was deserted. It was built by Acadian peasants from Grand 
Pre, Nova Scotia, after they were driven from their homes, and put 
ashore here from British ships, in 1755. The town sheltered them, and 
they found work. 

The old house, with its steep, sloping roof, is of salt box type; two 
stories and an attic in front, while at the rear, u shielding the house 
from the storms on the north,” is a small hillock, which the old roof 
almost touches. There are traces of an old garden, the house is grey 
and unpainted. The rather narrow front door is made of great planks 
set crosswise, and there is a massive chimney in the centre. Known now 
solely as the Acadian house, there seems no other history connected 
with it. 

New Haven, originally known as Quinnipiac, and settled in 1638, 
unfortunately now offers few old houses of interest. Washington, in 
his diary of 1789 found that “ it occupies a good deal of ground, but 
is thinly, though regularly laid out and built.” One house, the oldest 
part built in 1671, but with various later additions, has been filled with 
old furniture, and is open gratis to the public. This is known as 
Pardee’s Old Morris house. 



306 Historic Houses of Early America 


The Pierpont house, used by the British as a hospital in 1779, sur¬ 
vives, as does the Jones house, built in 1755, occupying the site of 
Governor Theophilus Eaton’s mansion, both of these on Elm Street. 
The Governor’s mansion must have been very grand for those days, 
since it contained large, lofty rooms, and twenty-one fireplaces, but 
nothing of it remains in the newer house on the old site. New Haven 
imported bricks from England for early building, and is said by one 
historian to be the only New England colony which did so, save for the 
10,000 bricks imported in 1628 by Massachusetts. 

About ten miles from New Haven is Bethany, with an old house 
having a curious story. The hero figured as such in the book of an 
early writer, the Reverend Israel P. Warren, who published it under 
the title: “Chauncy Judd, or the Stolen Boy.” This book is out of 
print, but a re-print was published not long ago. 

Mr. Dayton, at the time of the Revolution, was living on Long 
Island. An ardent patriot, he was obliged to leave his home there be¬ 
cause the neighborhood was largely Tory. He brought his wife and 
family, furniture, rare laces, wines and a considerable sum of money 
to Bethany, and settled in the house ever since known by his name. 

One night he was absent on business, when a band of Loyalists of 
the neighborhood, under the leadership of an officer in the British 
Army, planned to rob his house. The only occupants at the time were 
Mrs. Dayton and a young child, so the marauders were able to carry 
out their plan very easily. 

After binding and gagging Mrs. Dayton, “ the band found 450 
pounds in gold and silver which belonged to Mr. Dayton, besides 
other valuable articles. What they could not conveniently carry off, 
they wantonly destroyed, breaking in pieces all the crockery, furni¬ 
ture, etc. The robbers left about two o’clock, and went to a place in 
Middlebury (now Gunntown), where they were secreted in a cellar 
by a family who were friendly to the British cause.” 

On their way to Gunntown, they met a boy, Chauncy Judd, “ who 
had been to see a young lady home from a quilting party.” Some of 
them knew young Judd, and “ fearing he might discover them, and 



Stories Thrilling and Romantic ^5 


307 


betray them in time to lead to their capture, they forced him to come 
along with them.” 

Meanwhile, as soon as the robbery was discovered, the bell of the 
Congregational Church, which at that time stood opposite the Day- 
ton house, was rung loudly, to give warning to the inhabitants of 
Bethany, and a party soon started in pursuit of the marauders. 

The latter had a good start, however, and “were secreted in 
several different places, sometimes houses, barns and caves.” From 
Waterbury they made for Stratford, “ where they took a whale 
boat and crossed over to Long Island.” In the meantime, Chauncy 
Judd had been missed, and his family joined in the search for 
him. 

Several times during their flight, “ the robbers had become almost 
exhausted with carrying their booty, and realizing that their captive 
was a dangerous burden, decided to put him out of the way — at one 
time in an open field near a pool, later on in the cellar of the Wooster 
house, Derby. People at Derby having received information of their 
passing through that place, two whale boats and crews pursued them 
to the Island, and were fortunate enough to catch all but one just 
within the British Newgate. They, however, broke prison, and fled to 
Nova Scotia.” 

Mr. Haddon states that “ practically all of the houses, caves, and 
other places where this band was in hiding during their return to Long 
Island are in existence.” 2 

When finally rescued from his captors, the boy, Chauncy Judd, 
was almost dead from exhaustion and fright. With the buoyancy of 
youth he recovered, and a great-great-nephew is now Town Clerk in 
Bethany, Mr. John E. Hinman. He has, of course, heard the story of 
his relative’s adventures many, many times, and is authority for some 
of these facts related. 

Continuing along the old Post Road, Milford is reached. This 
town was settled as early as 1639, for there is a town record of 1640, 
when it was voted that: “ the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness 

2 Tourists’ Guide to Connecticut , compiled by Rawson W. Haddon. 



308 6 % Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


thereof: Voted that the earth is given to the Saints; Voted, we are the 
Saints.” Surely this is unique as a town record. However, Mr. Haddon 
adds: “It was not the Lord, but the Indians, who gave the town to 
the settlers, and they did so in consideration of six coats, ten blankets, 
one kettle, and a number of hoes, knives, hatchets and glasses.” 8 

Milford is full of old houses, some of them apparently untouched 
by modernizing hands, and one of these has an interesting history. 

The Stephen Stowe house, built about 1680, still stands on what 
used to be known as Wharf Street, running down to the wharf early 
owned by Peter Perit. Now the street has been re-named High, and the 
old house is decked out in fresh paint, a private residence, and with 
the interior entirely modernized. Gone are the wide old fireplaces, the 
old doors, but the story of it still lives, although the tablet placed on 
the old walls to Freelove Baldwin Stowe, 1751-1806, by the local 
chapter of the D.A.R. seems a bit one sided. Surely her husband, Cap¬ 
tain Stephen, should be commemorated as well. 

“ Two hundred American Soldiers, in a destitute, sickly and dying 
condition, were brought from a British Prisonship, then lying near 
New York, and suddenly cast upon our shore, from a British cartel 
ship, on the first of January, 1777. 

“ The inhabitants of Milford made the most charitable efforts for 
the relief of these suffering strangers; yet, notwithstanding all their 
kind ministrations, in one month forty-six died, and were buried in 
one common grave,” as the monument in the old burying ground of 
Milford to Captain Stephen Stowe sets forth. 

Captain Stowe and Dr. Carrington, who lived opposite, in a house 
long since disappeared, conducted the American soldiers to the hos¬ 
pital where the forty-six died. 

The Pequot War ended in 1637, in Fairfield, then covering the 
sites of the present Greenfield, Stratfield, Bridgeport and other towns. 
The “ plantation ” was originally called Uncoa. Ludlow, Deputy 
Governor of Connecticut, headed the first band of settlers, who im¬ 
mediately organized for religious services, and built a log meeting 

* Tourists' Guile to Connecticut. 



Stories Thrilling and Romantic ^§5 


309 


house, on the site of the present Congregational church j set up stocks 
and a whipping post, and were ready for business. 

On the west side of the Green was a pond of sufficient depth to 
serve as a ducking pond for suspected witches, although it would seem 
that these had little chance of escape, for if they sank, that was sup¬ 
posed to prove their innocence, but records omit to state whether or not 
they were pulled out before drowning. On the other hand, if they 
floated, they were in league with the Evil One. Two suspected witches, 
Mercy Disbrow and Elizabeth Clawson, were ducked here, but at 
least one of them is reported to have survived the ordeal, so perhaps 
the pond was not so deep after all, or the bystanders more merciful 
than records show. 

The house in which Dorothy Quincy and John Hancock were 
married is gone, but another, built almost immediately after the de¬ 
struction of the first, still stands on the old site, and is a private resi¬ 
dence. 

It is said that Dorothy Quincy positively refused to obey the com¬ 
mand of Governor Hancock, and leave her Quincy home for Boston, 
when the stirring times of Lexington and the Revolution came. Instead, 
she watched the Battle of Lexington from the window of her room. 
However, it grew too dangerous even for Dorothy, so she went to 
Fairfield, to stay with “ Auntie Burr.” 

The Burr house stood back from the main street, and was large, 
with dormer windows on the second story; quite a “ baronial structure,” 
Mrs. Perry describes it, with “ wide hall, heavy oaken staircase . . . 
chambers with their tiled fireplaces, and heavy oak panelings.” 4 

The Burrs were wealthy and cultured people. The father of this 
Thaddeus, was the Reverend Aaron Burr, of New Haven. Andrew 
Burr, a cousin, led the Connecticut regiment against Louisburg, and 
the noted Aaron was a cousin of Thaddeus. Always the family and many 
in the town of Fairfield considered this Aaron a most unjustly treated 
man. 

To the Burr house came Dorothy, in May 1775? and here Mrs. 

4 Kate E. Perry, in Hurd’s History of Fairfield County, Conn. 



310 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


Perry says, she “ rode, she sang, she boated, she feasted with the young 
people at the beachj she flirted with the village youths; she wrote let¬ 
ters . . . and every fortnight the lumbering mailcoach brought her a 
packet from Philadelphia, addressed in the bold handwriting of John 
Hancock.” 

We are privileged now to read bits of the ardent lover and patriot’s 
letters, a droll mingling of the formal style of the day with more im¬ 
patient and modern phrases. Thus: “ pray, my Dr. use not so much 
Ceremony and Reservedness. Why can’t you use freedom in writing. 
Be not afraid of me. I want Long Letters.” 

One letter explains that he is sending and hopes they will suit, 
stockings of both silk and cotton, black satin shoes, a “ very pretty light 
hat, a neat Airy Summer Cloak, 2 caps, 1 Fann.” Philadelphia was the 
capital then, and evidently set the fashions. 

Then an extract from the church records: 

“ Married at the residence of Thaddeus Burr, Esq., by the Rev¬ 
erend Andrew Eliot, the Hon. John Hancock, President of the Con¬ 
tinental Congress, to Miss Dorothy Quincy, daughter of Edmund 
Quincy of Boston, September 28, 1775.” 

Governor Hancock and Samuel Adams also came to Fairfield for 
greater safety, and were lodged and had their meals at first in seclu¬ 
sion. Then one day they ventured to dine with the family, but hardly 
had they taken their places at the table, when a farmer of the neighbor¬ 
hood burst into the house, asking the loan of a horse and chaise to fetch 
his wife, as u the British are coming! ” So again the two men had to re¬ 
turn to their hiding place, although the alarm proved false. 

Later, the British, under General Tryon did appear. 

Mrs. Burr, when the first rabble of soldiers broke into her house, 
tried to save it, even as they shouted at her: “ You d — d rebel, where 
is your husband? ” as she wrote later, “ at the same time stripping me 
of my buckles, tearing down the curtains of my bed, breaking the frame 
of my dressing glass, pulling out the drawers of my table and desk.” 
General Tryon came in person, and demanded papers. When Mrs. 
Burr replied that she had none, except old ones relating to the estate, 



Stories Thrilling and Romantic 


311 


he declared that those were what he wanted. However, he departed, 
without burning the house. 

Soon a second detachment arrived, more brutal than the others, 
and these actually dragged her out of her house and searched her, 
“ pulling and tearing my clothes from me in a most barbarous man¬ 
ner,” as she wrote. She then was forced to watch her home, with all its 
contents, burn to the ground. 

The British did not long occupy the town. Soon the Continentals 
were in possession. Thaddeus Burr returned, and converted a store or 
warehouse into a dwelling for his family. 

A few weeks later, Governor Hancock again visited him, and when 
the two gentlemen were looking over the ruins, Hancock told his host 
that he must re-build, and offered to furnish all the glass for the win¬ 
dows provided Burr would build his new house just like Hancock’s 
Boston home. Burr agreed, and accordingly the second house was a 
replica of the Hancock house in Boston. But when, in the last century, 
it passed into strangers’ hands, the new owner re-modeled and greatly 
changed its appearance. 

It is said that Deacon Bulkley’s house, one of the five in Fairfield 
which the British did not burn, was spared because the naval officer in 
charge of the British ships in the Sound was Mrs. Bulkley’s brother, 
although that lady was none the less herself a patriot. However, Gen¬ 
eral Try on not only promised to spare her house, but also any others 
that she might point out to him which she was particularly anxious to 
have spared. Four houses opposite on the Green were accordingly 
pointed out by her and escaped burning. 

This favor did not, however, prevent the British soldiers from 
plundering her house, stripping the buckles from her shoes — buckles 
seem to have had a marked fascination for these soldiers — and even 
when they were leaving, setting fire to the house in five different places. 
Mrs. Bulkley was able to extinguish the flames, and when, the follow¬ 
ing Sunday, the Green was occupied not by the British tents, but by 
those of the Continentals, the Reverend Andrew Eliot assembled his 
flock in the Bulkley house for services. 



312 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


The house still stands on the Green, but has been considerably re¬ 
modeled. To-day, as always, it is a private residence. 

Norwalk, settled in 1649, was made a town two years later, with 
the decree: u Norwauke shall bee a Towne.” 

Miss Patten Beard, the writer, has made a study of two interesting 
houses which formerly stood in Norwalk, one of which remains, and 
has written several articles about them. She vouches for the following: 

On East Avenue, the wide street which was the original main road 
through the town of Norwalk, there stood before the Revolution, the 
homestead of Governor Fitch, one of Connecticut’s first Colonial gov¬ 
ernors. During the Revolution, the house was partly burned by General 
Tryon, who landed at Fitch’s Point, and burned all houses not under 
Tory protection. The long rear wing of the present house belonged to 
the old building, and this escaped. A modern front has been built 
on, and a direct descendant of Governor Fitch still occupies the 
house. 

The Yankee Doodle house, which stood until a few years ago, 
when unfortunately it was torn down, was the home of Captain Thomas 
Fitch, son of the Governor. Miss Beard firmly maintains that he was 
the original Yankee Doodle, and gave rise to the doggerel verses com¬ 
posed on the Hudson River, by the English army surgeon, Dr. Shack- 
burg, when troops from Connecticut had gone there to reenforce the 
British, in fighting the French and Indians. 

After this engagement, Captain Fitch returned to his home in Nor¬ 
walk, and married. His father, the Governor, bought the land on which 
the Yankee Doodle house was built for the Captain in 1763. Miss 
Beard states that it has proved impossible to establish whether the orig¬ 
inal house was burned at the time that Tryon and his men visited the 
town, and a new one later built on the original site, or whether the first 
one stood until it was torn down not long ago. In any case, the house 
so regrettably demolished still showed many of the original wide 
boards j it had the sloping roof of the salt box type, a Dutch porch be¬ 
neath overhanging roof, the big fireplace and Dutch oven, and could 
not have been built much later than the close of the Revolution, even 
if it were not the actual house built in 1763. The old iron latch, and 



Stories Thrilling and Romantic ^5 


313 


a number of old hand wrought iron nails are in Miss Beard’s posses¬ 
sion. 

Continuing west on the Post Road, the town of Greenwich is 
reached, last of the Connecticut towns where we shall pause for an old 
house. This, the Knapp or Putnam house, owned by the Daughters of 
the American Revolution, is open gratis on Monday, Thursday, Friday 
and Saturday to the public. Two local Greenwich historians give no 
authority for stating that the house was ever a tavern, although it 
was occupied by the Knapps. One history of Connecticut further adds: 
“ A family of Knapps here were Tories, and there were always a great 
many Tories in this town.” 

Since the family were Tories, it does seem strange that in 1779, 
General Putnam should have stayed here, whether or not it was a 
tavern. There are three distinct stories as to his ride down the precipi¬ 
tous hillside only a few rods from the house, and where a boulder now 
marks the start of the descent. 

The house was built in 1721. On the left of the entry are two 
rooms, separated only by an archway, and probably originally but one. 
The stairs mount with two turns from the little entry; narrow, steep 
stairs, with roughly hand carved bannisters, fastened with wooden 
pegs. The rear part of the house is reserved for the caretaker, but in 
two large bedrooms, the Daughters have assembled some fine old fur¬ 
niture. 

Now for the versions of Putnam’s famous ride down the hill. 

“ On the approach of Gov. Tryon to this place with a force of about 
fifteen hundred men, Gen. Putnam planted two iron field pieces by 
the meeting house, without horses or drag ropes. Having fired his can¬ 
non several times, Putnam, perceiving the dragoons (supported by the 
infantry) about to charge, ordered his men, about two hundred and 
fifty in number, to provide for their safety, and secured his own by 
plunging down the precipice at full trot.” The British cavalry sent a 
volley after him (one shot piercing his hat), “but dared not follow, 
although two or three dragoons of Lafayette’s escort to the place in 
1824 performed the feat safely.” 8 

8 Tourists 1 Guide to Connecticut, compiled by Rawson D. Haddon. 



3 r 4 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


If this version be preferred, there are two old cannon mounted 
outside the house, and with a little imagination, they may be the two 
referred to. Or: 

General Putnam was at Horseneck. (The part of Greenwich where 
the Putnam house stands was in early days called Horseneck.) He 
went to a ball at the house of Moses Husted at Pecksland, taking a lady, 
the daughter of David Bush, afterwards Mrs. Rogers, on his horse 
behind him, as was the custom. The dance lasted so late that when he 
took the lady to her father’s house, he remained there. The following 
day, a group of Tories passing, saw the General spring on his horse in 
Captain John Hobby’s barn, and dash down the road, whereupon they 
pursued him. When he reached what was later called Putnam’s Hill, 
Putnam dashed down its steep sides, and escaped them, but could not 
resist calling back: 

w God cuss ye! When I catch ye I’ll hang ye to the next tree! ” 

Or: Putnam was staying in the Knapp tavern, and was shaving 
one morning, in the little room opening from the rear parlor, when in 
the mirror he saw the reflection of the British redcoats, rushed from the 
house to the barn, which then stood close to the house, mounted his 
horse, and dashed away, escaping them by the precipitous ride. 

One old lady tells the story with more elaboration. Putnam was 
upstairs when he saw the British j ran down the stairs, descended by 
the trap door in the entry floor, (and still to be seen there), to the cel¬ 
lar, from thence escaping by a back door to the barn, etc. 





Chapter XIV 

In Old New York ^5 


TT^he adventurous Madam Knight in 1704 wrote of New Rochelle: 
“ This is a very pretty place, well compact, and good handsome houses, 
clean, good and passable roads.” Unfortunately, the only very old 
houses in the historic city have little of special interest save age. The 
stone house of one of the Huguenot settlers does still survive pre¬ 
cariously, as a garage j there is on Davenport’s Neck a well preserved 
private residence, the oldest portion probably two hundred years old, 
but neither of these has other historic value. 

On North Avenue, however, one sufficiently old house has been 
and, if possible, will be preserved for years to come. Known as the 
Thomas Paine house, although not on the original site, it does stand 
on part of the old farm, confiscated by the State of New York from 
its Tory owner, Frederick Davoue. Later, house and farm were pre¬ 
sented by the State to Thomas Paine, in recognition of his services. 
Its preservation is due to the efforts of the New Rochelle Histori¬ 
cal Association, which conducted a successful campaign to buy the 
house and its present site, when the farm was divided into building 
lots. 

This society and the Huguenot Society of Westchester County now 
hold their meetings here, have filled the house with interesting sou¬ 
venirs of Paine and other relics, and it is open to the public. 

Paine lived here until shortly before his death, when he removed 
to the house in Grove Street, New York City, where he died. That 
house or site is marked by a tablet. A monument beside the New 


315 



316 Historic Houses of Early America 


Rochelle house does not mark his burial place. He was buried on the 
farm, but in 1819 his body was secretly removed, and taken to Eng¬ 
land. 

The entire tract on which are the cities of New Rochelle, Mount 
Vernon, the Pelhams, Eastchester, etc., was owned by the Pell family, 
who received a large grant, and purchased additional acres. About 
1680, John Pell, “ Lord of the Manor,” sold 6,000 acres of his hold¬ 
ings, part of a tract purchased by the Dutch East India Company from 
the Siwanoy Indians, to Jacob Leisler. The latter was acting as agent for 
a group of French Huguenots, who, after having been driven from 
France by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, had taken refuge in 
Holland, England and Germany, and now wished to come to the new 
country. Pell’s terms of purchase were “ Sixteen hundred twenty and 
five pounds currant silver money of this province,” also to a John Pell, 
Lord of the Manor, every four and twentieth day of June yearly, and 
every year forever if demanded, one fat calf.” In the years imme¬ 
diately following this purchase, when the calf was duly presented on 
demand, a feast usually followed, the day being the festival of St. 
John the Baptist. 

Near the old Bartow mansion, in Pelham Bay Park, is the stump of 
the tree beneath which the first Pell proprietor, Thomas, is said to 
have ratified with the Indians his purchase of land from them. The 
original Pell house, long since gone, is thought to have stood nearby. 

At one time, in and near the modern Pelhams, there stood three 
Pell residences. Two are gone, but it seems probable that the house 
just off from Carol Place, Pelham, overlooking the new Hutchinson 
Parkway, was the third. The solid stone basement is thought to be the 
original house built in 1750 by Philip Pell, and later occupied by his 
grandson, Colonel David I. Pell, until his death, in 1823. Here a 
messenger came with news that British troops had landed on Pell’s 
Neck, whereupon David rushed down to the river, and rowed to East¬ 
chester to warn the Americans there encamped. 

The two upper stories are said to have been added by a Scotchman, 
James Hay, who bought the house from the Colonel’s widow. He 



6 ?^ In Old New York ^§5 


317 


made the old front the rear, added double bay windows, and a circular 
vestibule, although leaving the staircase in its original position. 

Within, some fine old doors and woodwork survive, and the rooms 
are large and lofty. It was purchased several years ago, when falling to 
ruin, and the present owner has carefully repaired and restored it. 

Continuing into New York City, on the east side, at 86th Street 
and the River is a city park. In this, stands the Gracie mansion. 

Archibald Gracie, a native of Dumfries, Scotland, came to this 
country at the close of the Revolution. He became one of the largest 
ship owners of the period, married Miss Esther Rogers, and either 
built or greatly altered a former house into the present residence. 

In 1805 Josiah Quincy dined here, and wrote: “ The mansion is 
elegant in the modern style, and the grounds laid out with taste in 
gardens.” 

Washington Irving, in 1813 wrote of the Gracie home: 

u Their countryplace was one of my strongholds last summer. It 
is a charming warm hearted family, and the old gentleman has the 
soul of a prince.” 

Mr. Grade’s son married the daughter of Oliver Wolcott, Secre¬ 
tary of the Treasury under Washington, and a grand reception was 
given to the young couple in this house, but during the festivities, the 
bride dropped dead of heart disease. 

One Gracie daughter, Hester, was married here to William Beach 
Laurence, afterwards Governor of Rhode Island. Another daughter 
married James Gore King, and a third, Charles King, later President 
of Columbia University. 

As a result of the Berlin and Milan decrees, Mr. Gracie lost over 
a million dollars. He was one of the largest holders of claims against 
France. The French Government had certain claims against the United 
States at this time, which they agreed to relinquish, provided our Gov¬ 
ernment paid our citizens’ claims against France. Although this was 
agreed to, Congress persistently for generations refused to make the 
necessary appropriations. 

During the Napoleonic wars, a French vessel, chased by a British 



3 j 8 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


frigate, took refuge in New York harbor. The English believed the 
enemy ship successfully bottled up, but the French captain slipped up 
the East River, through Hell Gate, then a difficult feat, and actually 
sailed so close to the shore that one of the sailors was swept from the 
rigging by the branches of a great elm at Grade’s Point, as the place 
was then known. To these branches he fortunately managed to cling, 
and climbed down safely to the ground. His ship sailed on, but Charles 
King set out with him in a rowboat, and landed him safely on the 
French ship, which escaped the chagrined British through Long Island 
Sound. The elm tree stood on Grade’s Point until 1880. 

The property came into the ownership of the City of New York in 
1891. In March, 1927 it was opened to the public by the Museum of 
the City, which association had put the old house in order, and filled it 
with loaned furniture and other articles. 

It is a solid, square building, with a high stone basement. The hall 
is unusually broad j there is a spadous drawing room at the right, a 
sitting room and large dining room on the left, and six upper rooms. 
There are many windows, the ceilings are high, for this was a summer 
home. 

From the lower hall, one passes through an alcove to the dining 
room, and the door has a fanlight, the only one of its kind in the house. 
A curious shaped chimney wall seems to show that this corner of the 
house may be the old portion, and that Mr. Gracie did build on to this. 

On Sixty-first Street, close to the East River, but hemmed in by 
modern buildings, stands the Colonel Smith house. 

Colonel William Smith married the only daughter of President 
John Adams, Abigail, familiarly known as “ Nabby.” Nabby went to 
Europe engaged to Royall Tyler, but after meeting the handsome 
Colonel there, sent Tyler back his ring and letters. 

After their marriage, the Smiths first lived on Long Island, and 
when Colonel Smith built this house for his wife it bore the name of 
Smith’s Folly. But the Colonel lost his money in real estate specula¬ 
tions. Had he remained prosperous it might not have been so named. 

At the time of its building, extensive grounds surrounded the house 



In Old New York ^5 


319 


and ran down to the river. Only a small portion of these remains. 
Grading has left the house set high above the street level, and one 
mounts a flight of steps inside the stone wall which now separates it 
from the street. The old stone edifice is now occupied by the Colonial 
Dames of America. A piazza runs across the front, from which two 
doors open, one possibly cut at the time that the house was a tavern. 
Within there are signs that the great square hall was once partitioned. 
A side hall leads to a third door which possibly was once the front en¬ 
trance. 

There are large rooms on two floors, with wide fireplaces, china 
cupboards with HL hinges, and a broad stairway mounts with a land¬ 
ing. 

Colonel Smith purchased the property about 1795, but there are 
conflicting tales as to whether the house was then standing, and merely 
re-modeled by him, or whether he built a new one. It has also been 
said that the present is the re-modeled barn, and that the house itself 
was destroyed by fire, but this seems doubtful. 

The Smiths had been married about nine years when the Colonel 
purchased this property. The wedding took place in London, with a 
bishop officiating. Colonel Smith had served his country with distinc¬ 
tion in the Revolution, enlisting immediately after being graduated 
from Princeton, and was repeatedly promoted, becoming Adjutant 
General under Lafayette, and in the last year of the war, Washington’s 
aide. Washington appointed him Secretary of the first American Lega¬ 
tion in London. 

Although the building at the corner of Broad and Pearl Streets is 
always now known as Fraunces’ Tavern, and has been one for the 
greater part of its existence, it was originally a fine private residence. 
So was Claremont on Riverside Drive, but both of these have been 
described in an earlier book. 1 

Alexander Hamilton’s residence, The Grange, stood on a tract of 
sixteen acres near Tenth Avenue and 142nd Street, but was moved to 
its present site on Convent Avenue, near 141st Street. Hamilton bought 

1 Early American Inns and Taverns, the Author. 



320 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


the land in 18oo, and built the house for his bride. Mr. Faris gives an 
interesting item of the building’s costs * one laborer received $424.50 
for three and a half years’ work. 2 

From this house Hamilton set forth for the duel with Aaron Burr, 
believing that he should not return alive, since he had no intention of 
aiming at Burr, nor did he. A letter left for his wife explained this. 
He had his son sleep in the same room the night before, and in the 
dawn bade him a fond farewell. Another son had already fallen in a 
duel. Burr’s bullet found its mark, and Hamilton died shortly after 
being brought home. After the fatal duel, one of his daughters went 
insane. 

Since then the house has been a school, parish house, and recently 
has again changed hands. A square wooden structure, with high base¬ 
ment, and broad piazza across the front, it is occupied only by a care¬ 
taker, and no one is allowed to see it. 

The familiar Jumel mansion at 161st Street and Kingsbridge Road 
stands on land originally conveyed by New Harlem to an early settler, 
Hendrik Kiersen, in 1691. 

According to one story, James Carroll bought the farm from the 
Dyckmans in 1763, for £i,000, and two years later sold it to Robert 
Morris, who then built the present house. But the tablet placed here 
by the Daughters of the American Revolution states that Morris lived 
here in 1758, and that is the date usually given for its building by 
Morris, as home for his bride, Mary Philipse of Yonkers. Morris, 
with Washington, was aide to General Braddock on the latter’s fatal 
expedition, and both men courted the fair Mary. 

She is said to have persuaded her husband to remain loyal to the 
British, and in consequence, his estates were confiscated. Washington 
used this house as headquarters, in 1776, and here he first met Alex¬ 
ander Hamilton. The next year it was occupied by General Sir Henry 
Clinton, and was Hessian headquarters under Baron von Knyphausen. 
From 1779 to 1783 the British occupied it, arid are said to have paid 
rent. The following year it was sold by the Commissioners of Forfei¬ 
ture for £2,250 to John Berrian and Isaac Ledyard. 

* Historic Shrines of America, John T. Faris. 



In Old New York 


321 


In 1787 it was a tavern, known as Calumet or Landlord Talmadge 
Hall. In 1810, Stephen Jumel paid £10,000 for the building and 
thirty-six acres. He restored the house, and added the American Colo¬ 
nial doors on the front and east side. 

Jumel was a very wealthy merchant, and of his wife many stories 
are told for which there is here no space. While the Jumels lived here 
many distinguished men were entertained, including Talleyrand and 
Jerome Bonaparte. In 1815, Jumel brought back from France some 
of the Egyptian cypresses set out near the Tuileries, and planted them 
near his home. Fourteen of these remained, at least recently, on the 
east side of St. Nicholas Avenue, near 159th Street. 

In 1833, when nearly eighty years old, Aaron Burr persuaded the 
widowed Madame Jumel to marry him, but they quarreled bitterly. 
In the last years of her life she was a miser, and dying, left a fortune 
of about $2,000,000. The house was sold by her heirs, and owned later 
by several persons, including General Earl, who named it Earlcliff. 
In 1901 acquired by the City of New York, it was given into the care 
of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and is now open to the 
public. 

The original approach was through what is now Sylvan Place. 
Here, when the American soldiers were quartered on the estate, wooden 
huts were built for them on each side of the driveway. In what is now 
Speedway Park, from behind rocks and trees, the Americans aimed and 
fired at the Scottish Highlanders, as in boats rowed by men of the 
Royal Navy, they came up the little creek whose mouth may still be 
seen at low tide, at 173rd Street. 

In the broad hall hangs a full length portrait of Madame Jumel 
and her adopted son and daughter. Large front rooms open on either 
side of the hall, and in the rear is a small apartment known as the 
Guard room. Here, while repairing the great fireplace, wall closets of 
an early period were uncovered. In this room are samples of wall paper 
which in 1810 Stephen Jumel sent to Paris to have reproduced. When 
the City bought the house, the samples were again reproduced for the 
drawing room. 

This is a beautiful apartment at the rear, with windows on three 



322 Historic Houses of Early America 


sides. It is also known as the Court Martial room, for at the time of 
Washington’s occupancy, several courts were held in it. 

The Van Cortlandt house, also owned by the city, stands in the 
park of that name, on part of a grant made to Adriaen Van der Donck, 
first lawyer in New Netherlands. Here he built a bouwerie or farm 
house. In 1699 he gave his son-in-law, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, the 
house and fifty acres, to which the latter added several hundred more. 
The Van Cortlandts had been granted a large tract themselves. 

The first of the name here came from Holland in 1638, and was 
a soldier in the service of the Dutch West India Company, while 
William Kieft was its Director General in the North American 
Province. Olaf Van Cortlandt married a Belgian girl with a large 
dowry, who had come to America with her brother, Govert Loocker- 
man. 

Their son Stephanus born in 1643, was the first American born 
Mayor of New York. He received a large grant of land, was a colonel 
in the Kings County militia, first Judge in the Admiralty, Chancellor, 
Collector of Revenues, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a pros¬ 
perous merchant, and a warden of Trinity Church. 

He sailed up the Hudson as far north as Anthony’s Nose, where he 
landed, and sent Indians of his party “ a day’s journey into the wilder¬ 
ness,” establishing what has remained the northern boundary of West¬ 
chester County, and was then the northern boundary of his estate. He 
owned 83,000 acres, applied for a royal charter for his manor, and in 
1697 it was erected into a Lordship. 

Jacobus Van Cortlandt built the present house near the old farm 
house, employing his own carpenters j dammed Tippett’s brook to 
make a millpond, and set up a grist and a saw mill, which later were 
used by both the British and Continental Armies. 

In 1777-8 a picket guard of Hessians were stationed here, and 
nearby Emmerick’s chasseurs and Tarleton’s legion attacked the Stock- 
bridge Indians, faithful allies of the Americans, and owing to superior 
numbers, killed many of them. 

The house has been owned by the city for fifty years. 



In Old New York ^5 


323 


Of stone, typically Dutch in style, it resembles many old houses in 
Pennsylvania. Square, substantial, the Dutch front door, and another 
large one at the side are not the originals, but are exact replicas of the 
old ones, which were too battered to repair. The beautiful brass knocker 
is original, and one of two door keys which are shown to those 
especially interested, but are guarded under lock and key, since one 
was carried off by some dishonest visitor. 

At either side of the broad hall is a large square room, one now 
furnished as a dining room, although the old one was in the rear. The 
fireplace is framed with Dutch tiles, china cupboards with shallow, 
slightly carved shell tops are on either side. Across the hall is the draw¬ 
ing room, with an elaborately carved mantel set in a paneled wall, and 
this apartment contains a few pieces of furniture owned by the original 
family. The former dining room is now fitted with glass cases as a 
museum. A window on the east side of the house was brought here 
from the old Sugar House, a warehouse on Duane Street, used by the 
British during the Revolution, as a prison. 

Downstairs in the old Dutch kitchen are the big open fireplace, 
the cranes, pots and kettles of the olden days, and here once a week, 
tea is served by the Colonial Dames. 

Upstairs on the second floor, reached by a broad staircase, with low 
treads, are three more rooms, the large one at the left having the entire 
fireplace well paneled. The rear room, the old nursery, is charmingly 
fitted up with an old Dutch enclosed bed, such as one sees in parts of 
Holland to-day, a quaint cradle, and other interesting pieces. The high 
open fireplace is entirely lined with Dutch tiles and above this floor is 
an attic with other rooms. 

In the museum is treasured the old Van Cortlandt family strong 
box, of massive oak, carved. In this important documents of the Revo¬ 
lution were placed, and when the British advanced, the box was buried 
on the hill nearby, and they did not find it. A white post now marks the 
spot where it was buried. 

Still further up the old Albany Post Road, now Broadway, at 204th 
Street, stands the only true 18th century Dutch farmhouse remaining 



324 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


on Manhattan Island. Built about 1783, the same family owned it until 
some fifty years ago, but in 1915 it was presented to the city by two 
descendants of this family, who placed within much of the original 
furniture. 

Near its site in early days was a large Indian village, and arrow 
heads and other Indian articles used to be found in the fields that once 
surrounded this house. It stands high above the street, on a terrace, 
and part of the old fashioned garden, with brick walks, and box- 
bordered flower beds, surrounds it. The builder, William Dyckman, 
planted orchards, but these have long disappeared beneath modern 
buildings. Adjoining the house but not connecting with it is a small 
two-story one, now occupied by the caretaker, which is said to be the 
first farmhouse, built fifty years before the larger one. 

This consists of but two good sized rooms, the lower one, kitchen 
and living room, with dark beams crossing the ceiling, a great fireplace, 
with two Dutch ovens, filling one entire side wall, while the display of 
old brass and copper cooking utensils of all kinds adds to the attractive 
interior. This part is not usually shown to visitors. 

The other house of two stories, with long curving sloping roof, and 
piazzas across front and back, is of wood, set on a stone basement. 

The parlor or best room is kept in a state of twilight, and visitors 
are told that this is done to convey the exact appearance of the room 
when visitors were received there by Mr. and Mrs. Dyckman. The 
quaint old chintz curtains and rug must not be faded by sunlight, so 
the solid wooden outer shutters with peepholes are kept as then nearly 
closed. Unfortunately, this interferes with proper examination of the 
fine old furniture here assembled. The room has a large open fireplace, 
and built-in china cupboard in one corner. Behind and connecting, is a 
small room used by the first owner as an office. 

Across the hall in front is the living room, also with big fireplace, 
and behind this room steep and winding stairs descend to the winter 
kitchen. The house was built on a ledge of rock, and part of this rock 
remains, a ridge beneath the stairs, never having been excavated or 
leveled completely. 




Photo by Frederick Bradley 

The old Van Cortlandt house, now the property of the City of New York. 
























































































The Lady Deborah Moody house, Brooklyn. Home of a most unusual woman, who 

steadfastly maintained her right to liberty of belief. 



























































6^ In Old New York ^5 


325 


Upstairs on the second floor are three bedrooms, and a windowless 
small room or closet, while a trap door gave access to an attic above. 

This house was at one time occupied by the Continental Army, and 
a small hut, used by some of the officers, has been reconstructed on its 
supposed site in the yard. 

In the 16th century, James Billop is said to have risked his life to 
save that of Queen Elizabeth. At all events, a descendant, Christopher, 
was educated for the Navy by command of Charles I. By the time he 
was a captain, he had already had thrilling adventures, including cap¬ 
ture by Turkish pirates, who left him stranded on a lonely spot from 
which he fortunately was rescued. In 1667, he came to the New Neth¬ 
erlands, and won favor with the English Government and the Duke 
of York by circumnavigating Staten Island in twenty-four hours, thus 
winning it for the English in accordance with a previous agreement 
with the Dutch that any island in New York Bay which could thus be 
circumnavigated in that time should belong to the English. As reward, 
Billop was given 1163 acres on Staten Island. 

Here he built himself a house j stones and timber being taken from 
his own land, while for cement he sent to England, and for bricks to 
Belgium. In 1700, he sailed for England on the Bentley, and was 
never heard of again. His only child, a daughter, had married a cousin, 
Thomas Farmer, who changed his name to Billop, that the name might 
not be extinct. 

Christopher Billop, their son, was a firm Tory, as were many Staten 
Islanders, and became a colonel in the British Army. For some reason, 
his New Jersey neighbors were particularly bitter against him, and 
most anxious to capture him. Finally, some men stationed in St. Peter’s 
steeple, Perth Amboy, spied him going into his house. A band was dis¬ 
patched, and Billop was captured, sent to Burlington, New Jersey, and 
imprisoned in the jail there, his hands and feet chained to the floor. 
Later, exchanged for a captain in the Continental Army, he was a sec¬ 
ond time taken prisoner, but released by Washington at the special 
request of Lord Howe. After the Battle of Long Island, Lord Howe 
dispatched General Sullivan, then a prisoner, to request that a com- 



326 (${ Historic Houses of Early America 


mittee be sent to discuss peace terms with him. This committee con¬ 
sisted of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge. 
Lord Howe had been considered friendly towards the colonists, had 
met Franklin when the latter was in England representing the thirteen 
colonies, and had been go-between in efforts of the British Ministry 
to win Franklin by means of a bribe, not only of money at once, but 
with the promise of future rewards if that patriot would persuade the 
colonists to accept the terms offered. Howe believed that there would 
not be great difficulty in thus persuading them after the disastrous 
Battle of Long Island. 

Morris’ Memorial History of Staten Island tells that: “ along the 
sloping lawn in front of the house, long lines of troops that formed the 
very flower of the British Army were drawn up, between which the dis¬ 
tinguished commander escorted his no less distinguished guests.” 

The troops appear not to have in the least impressed John Adams, 
who described them as u looking fierce and furious and making all the 
grimaces and gestures and motions of the muskets.” 

Howe reminded the three delegates that the fact that there was a 
Continental Congress must not be considered, but that they three must 
look upon themselves as merely private individuals. 

Franklin thought that it might be a conversation between friends. 
Adams did not care what he was considered “ so long as he was not re¬ 
garded as a British subject.” Rutledge reminded Lord Howe that the 
delegates’ official position was determined by the Colonies, not the 
Congress. 

The conference ended without peace results, but at least it showed 
the determination of the colonists to be independent of the mother 
country. When the preliminary peace treaty was signed six years later, 
at Versailles, Franklin and Adams were again delegates. 

During this conference in the Billop, now often known as the Con¬ 
ference House, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were lodged in 
the same bedroom. Franklin opened the window as he was about to get 
into bed, and this brought loud protests from his roommate, but as 
Adams later explained, Franklin thereupon advanced so many argu- 



6 ^ In Old New York 


327 


ments and at such length, in favor of admitting the “ night air,” that 
Adams in despair dropped off to sleep. 

After the war was over, Billop removed to New Brunswick. 

He is described as very tall, haughty, but also extremely kind 
hearted. He had slaves, and once a year always held a harvest home on 
his lawn, to which all the neighbors were bidden, and well entertained. 
He was an expert shot and horseman, and before the Revolution, Bil¬ 
lop House was noted for hospitality. 

Very strongly built, the walls and foundations are of stone, several 
feet thick. In the basement is the old kitchen, with a huge fireplace, 
before which the slaves used to gather. Two very large rooms are on 
the first floor, and two large and two small ones above. In the high- 
pitched, sloping roof is an attic with two sets of windows, one above 
the other, and there are great chimneys at either end. 

The owner of the house at the time that it was ransacked and plun¬ 
dered by both Hessians and Americans was the great-grandson of the 
original Captain Billop. 

There is a ghost room in which a murder was committed, leaving 
the usual indelible stains, and, furthermore, a dungeon in the cellar, 
with a massive iron gate bearing the marks where both American and 
British prisoners tried to escape. An underground passage is said to have 
connected this dungeon with the river. 

Fenimore Cooper is thought to have laid one scene of his “Water 
Witch ” in the Billop house. 

House and twenty-five acres of land are now owned by the Borough 
of Richmond, an aim towards which the Staten Island Historical So¬ 
ciety has been working for years. Memberships in the Association are 
being sold towards raising funds to put the old house in thorough re¬ 
pair, furnish it with suitable articles of the period of its palmy days, 
and as soon as possible, open it to the public. The grounds around will 
be converted into a park. 

Brooklyn, the name probably derived from Breuckelen or Brock- 
landia, meaning moist meadows, was settled several years after New 
York, or New Amsterdam. 



328 6?^ Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


In 1614, Adrian Block in his ship, the Restless, built the year be¬ 
fore on Manhattan, explored the East River and Long Island Sound, 
discovering the Connecticut, Thames and Housatonic Rivers, but re¬ 
turned to Holland shortly afterwards. An island in the Sound com¬ 
memorates him. By 1636, white settlers established themselves in a 
few cabins at Gowanus. The early houses were of bark and saplings, but 
soon more substantial buildings replaced these; by 1656, there were 
already some of stone, while in 1660 brick was the fashionable build¬ 
ing material. 

The pioneers made their own tables, stools, chests and “ slaap 
bancke” or sleeping benches, instead of bedsteads, on which were 
placed the big Dutch featherbeds. The floors for many years were 
sanded, and the “ best ” room contained a bed for guests, a round table 
for tea, as part of the regular furnishing. 

In 1636, William Adriaense Bennet or Benet, and Jacques Bentyn 
bought 930 acres of land from the Indians, Bennet’s being near the 
present Third Avenue and 28th Street, Brooklyn. Here before 1642 he 
built a house which was burned during the Indian fighting. When he 
died, his widow married Paulus Van der Beeck, “ surgeon and far¬ 
mer,” but the son, Adrian Bennett inherited his father’s farm, and lived 
there in a house which may have been re-built then or earlier. It was 
taken down some years ago, but to a house now standing on East 22nd 
Street, a descendant of this Adrian Bennett moved about a century ago. 
The exact date of its erection is not known, but it was before the Amer¬ 
ican Revolution. A massive old beam in the barn, bearing deeply cut 
into its surface the date, 1766, is thought evidence that this was the 
year when it was built. Descendants in the eighth and ninth genera¬ 
tions of the original Adrian Bennett still occupy it. 

A typical old Dutch farmhouse, a story and a half high, with dor¬ 
mer windows enlarged by later owners, the original massive Dutch 
doors are still in place at each end of the big hall through the centre. 
A fine old knocker instead of bell announces visitors. The front door 
still retains the two original bull’s-eyes of thick bluish glass, and enor¬ 
mous strap hinges are on both doors. 



In Old New York ^5 


329 


A long ell at the side contained the large Dutch kitchen, with great 
fireplace now closed, but the old thick, square beams are still uncovered, 
hand hewn, and with rests for firearms. Adjoining was originally a 
milk room, now converted into a dining room, and above is a wonder¬ 
ful attic, where many interesting old pieces of furniture, arms, foot- 
warmers, wafer irons, one bearing the name, Wynant Bennett, and 
date, 1780, and a drum used by another Bennett in the War of 1812, 
may be examined. 

The main part of the house has the customary two large rooms on 
either side of a hall, and although they are closed now, one may still 
admire the size of the old fireplaces. The front room on the right, 
probably the “ best room,” has its fireplace set in a fine hand carved, 
paneled wall, with china cupboards on each side, and in one are still the 
old shelves, their fronts cut out in a pattern of curves. A charming old 
Grandfather clock has ticked here for a hundred years or more, and 
still keeps excellent time. 

By some happy chance, panes of glass on which several names had 
been scratched with a diamond, remained until the present mistress of 
the house came there as a bride. She was interested in them, and asked 
questions. One of these inscriptions read: “ Capt. Ernst Topfer, de 
Diffurth, Nov. 3, 1780,” but none of the family knew who he might 
have been. Mrs. Bennett hunted, until in old records in the City Li¬ 
brary, of Hessian soldiers who fought with the British against us she 
found this and other names. In the case of Topfer, he had been edu¬ 
cated in France, which accounts for the use of “ de,” and all of the 
names scratched on the panes were those of officers, who might well 
have owned the diamonds which made the inscriptions. The panes have 
now been removed for safe keeping. 

There is even a secret chamber, an unlighted room, opening by a 
small door into the attic, but if ever there was a secret staircase from it, 
or other means of exit, no trace now remains. Many of the long wooden 
pegs which hold the old roof in place may still be seen, and the rafters 
are good for many years yet. 

What is thought to be the oldest house now standing in Greater 



33° Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


New York is the Schenck homestead, on what was Mill Island, al¬ 
though the creek which made it such has now been filled in. 

Jan Martinus Schenck Van Wydeck, of a noble Holland family, 
came to America in 1656, and, probably in the same year, built this 
house still quite isolated, surrounded by trees and grass. Although but 
a story and a half high, unpainted and weather beaten, it contains more 
rooms than would be expected from the exterior. The beams for it 
were taken from a ship which was wrecked nearby, and their origin is 
evident in the ceiling of the living room, at the right of the entrance 
hall. Nearby used to be an old mill, and flour ground there was sold 
by the thrifty Dutch to the British for $ 1 a pound. 

In this house, Captain William Marriner, of the Continental Army, 
captured the British Major Moncrief. Captain Schenck, although a 
Loyalist, contributed $ 15,000 to the Revolutionary cause, which makes 
one suspect that he was but apparently a Tory for reasons of policy. 
Dutch patriots on Long Island had a hard time of it then, for most of 
Brooklyn was in the hands of the British for the greater part of the 
War. 

Captain Marriner had been taken prisoner by the British, and 
was living nearby. He frequented the same tavern as did the British 
officers, and when later he was exchanged, formed a plan to capture 
some of these officers, among them Moncrief, one of the best en¬ 
gineers in the British Army. Marriner with some other Americans 
attacked four houses in this neighborhood at once, and captured 
Moncrief and four or five others in the Schenck house. Another old 
Schenck homestead, built in 1705, stands to-day in Highland Park, 
Brooklyn. 

In October, 1687, Captain Coert Stevens and Marities, his wife, 
conveyed for £385 to Johannes Lott of Jamaica, property near what 
is now Avenue U and 36th Street. In 1719, Johannes Lott built a small 
house, consisting of the present kitchen and two small rooms on the 
first floor, with an attic above, which may or may not then have been di¬ 
vided into rooms. This house was removed a hundred feet south, and 
added to in 1800, since when it has been little changed except for mod- 



6?^ In Old New York ^5 


33i 


ern improvements, including some larger windows. A few of the old 
windows, with their quaint old glass panes, still remain. 

It is a charming old place, with lawns and a big old fashioned gar¬ 
den, and its preservation is due to the present owner, a descendant’s 
love for it, for she bought her brothers’ and sisters’ shares in the acre 
of land when the rest of the estate was sold for building lots. The 
fifth and sixth generations of Hendrik Lott’s descendants now occupy 
it. Here are old Dutch doors with fine hinges, and several of the hand 
wrought iron latches. A new roof was a necessity not many years ago, 
so the old one, with its great wooden pegs attaching it, and broad 
shingles hard almost as iron, has disappeared, but the owner treasures 
a few of the pegs. 

Hendrik I. Lott in 1792 married Mary, the daughter of Dr. John 
Brown, of this section, the window weights of whose house furnished 
bullets for the Revolutionary Army. Another old Lott homestead, 
considerably modernized, also survives not far away, on Avenue P. 

Ten years ago, a number of the old Dutch farmhouses in New 
Lotts, New Utrecht and Flatlands, as different villages came to be 
called, might still be found, but they are rapidly disappearing. One of 
these, when threatened with demolition, was purchased by the city, and 
removed to Prospect Park. This, the old Lefferts homestead, stood at 
563 Flatbush Avenue. It is now open to the public on Wednesday and 
Saturday afternoons, and is in charge of the Fort Greene Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Revolution, whose members have fur¬ 
nished it with fine pieces of maple and mahogany, early hooked rugs, 
samplers, etc. 

A grant of land was made in 1660 to Lefferts Pietersen Van Hage- 
wont, or Leffert Pieterse, as the name appears in different records. He 
came to New Netherlands and built a house in that year. His son Ja¬ 
cobus settled Bedford Corners. John, grandson of the first settler, a 
judge and member of the Provincial Congress, lived in the old house, 
which was burned by the British in 1776. He seems to have re-built it 
immediately, for it became headquarters for British officers, and at one 
time Major Andre was quartered here. With true French politeness, 



33 2 6 ^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


one day when two women members of the family were talking freely 
in his presence, believing themselves safe in doing so since they were 
speaking in Dutch, he interrupted to tell them that he understood what 
they were saying. 

An old Dutch door, with massive knocker admits to a fairly broad 
hall, from which stairs mount with a landing, on which is a small, high 
window. The spindles of the bannisters though plain are very delicate. 

Large double drawing rooms, connecting by a broad archway, are 
at the right side of the hall, and two other rooms, one furnished as a 
bedroom at the left. Above are four chambers with sloping ceilings, 
all containing old furniture, chiefly maple, with one four-post bed 
which belonged to the Lefferts family. A valuable possession is an auto¬ 
graph letter from Washington to Lord Fairfax, written during the 
reign of King George II. 

In the vicinity of Avenue U, Van Sicklen Street and Neck Road, is 
a group of dwellings, several with modern additions, but none the less 
unmistakably old. One of these, the Stillwell house, was originally 
owned by the Van Sicklens. Ferdinandes, head of the family, a wid¬ 
ower, one long past day, spied the maiden, Katrina Stillwell, milking 
a cow, and was instantly attracted, doubtless thinking that the strong, 
rosy cheeked girl would be a good worker. He proposed at once, and 
after taking one day to think it over, she accepted him. Later, the house 
passed to the Stillwells. An early member of this family, Nicholas, was 
known as “ The Tobacco Planter.” Another old Van Sicklen house 
stands near the corner of Avenue U and Van Sicklen Street, but its 
days are probably numbered. 

The most venerable house in this section, as well as one of the 
oldest in New York, is the Lady Deborah Moody’s, and even although 
it has been partially re-modeled, much of the original remains. Seen in 
spring or summer it is especially lovely, almost covered with ivy and 
wistaria. 

It stands in a charming garden, with old fashioned flowers, fruit¬ 
bearing trees and bushes of many kinds, screened from the street by a 
tall hedge. A typical old story and a half Dutch dwelling, with sloping 




Walt Whitman’s birthplace, Huntington, Long Island. 



Washington’s Headquarters, Newburgh, N. Y. 




The Fel/owcrafts Studio, Albany, N. Y. 

The Hamilton room, Schuyler Mansion, Albany. In this room, Elizabeth Schuyler was 

married to Alexander Hamilton. 



The Felluzvcrafts Studio, Albany, N. Y. 

The Schuyler Mansion, Albany, New York. 




















6?^ In Old New York 


333 


roof extending beyond the front and rear walls, the original front wall 
of stone has been covered with cement, but the other three of shingles 
remain as they were long ago. Thirty years ago it was found necessary 
to make extensive repairs, and in addition to the cement covering, a 
cellar was dug underneath the entire house. The inner partitions on the 
lower floor were probably removed then, throwing the two front rooms 
and passage into one, most attractive, with the massive old beams, al¬ 
though painted, still supporting the upper story j the marks of the axe 
which hewed them still visible j the ceiling of broad old planks form¬ 
ing the floor above. Dormer windows upstairs were enlarged, modern 
improvements installed, but the old stairs are little changed, and the 
side partition wall against which they rise was left, with the old plaster, 
made of ground up shells, earth and straw. There are plenty of old 
strap hinges to delight the lover of antiques, the two big fireplaces re¬ 
main, and the old woodwork is now as hard as iron, and still held in 
place by hand wrought iron nails or wooden pegs. 

All of the old Dutch doors survive, and although the front win¬ 
dows are larger than originally, and it was necessary to set new frames, 
panes of the old glass, with its rosy and bluish coloring, were used. The 
cellar now beneath the house has unfortunately closed one entrance of 
a secret passage, which led from the small old cellar up behind one of 
the big chimneys to a closet on the second floor, where that end may 
still be seen. 

Lady Deborah Moody, who is believed to have built and certainly 
occupied the house, was a character. Her father, Walter Dunch, Mem¬ 
ber of Parliament during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was a sturdy 
champion of liberty and the rights of man. She married Sir Henry 
Moody of Garsden, Wiltshire, who was created a baronet by King 
James I in 1622. Left a widow, she went up to London, and becoming 
interested in new religious teachings, overstayed her leave, for at that 
time English subjects were allowed to be absent from their domiciles 
for a specified period only. Her conduct was even investigated by the 
Star Chamber. Five years later, she left England for America, going 
first to Lynn, Massachusetts, then to Salem. Here she became inter- 



; 334 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


ested in the preachings of Roger Williams, and so fell out of favor 
with the Massachusetts Colony. Governor Winthrop mentions in his 
journal: “ the Ladye Moody, a wise and anciently religious woman, 
being taken with the error of denying baptism to infants, was dealt with 
by many of the Elders and others, but, persisting still, to avoid further 
trouble, she removed to the Dutch.” 

This removal took place about 1643, an d Governor Kieft of the 
Dutch West India Company, gave her a grant of land which, it is said, 
included all of Coney Island, and much of Gravesend and Sheepshead 
Bay. Lady Deborah, most unusual for a woman, headed the list of 
patentees who settled in this part of present Brooklyn. The settlement 
consisted of a square, surrounded by a palisade for protection against 
the Indians, this square being subdivided into four others, of eight lots 
each, with the present Neck Road, an old Indian trail, dividing them 
in one direction, the present Van Sicklen Street in the other. Lady Deb¬ 
orah received two lots inside this palisade, and on the central one of 
three fronting on Neck Road, built her house. Each small square had 
an inner yard in common for all householders, where cattle might be 
kept at night for greater security. 

Attacks from Indians came, and since Lady Deborah’s house seems 
to have been the most strongly built, it was used as a refuge by other 
settlers, forty men at one time being therein engaged in warding off 
the attacking Indians. 

Lady Deborah soon became a personage in her new home. She was 
a woman of education and refinement as well as wisdom, and her ad¬ 
vice was sought in matters of public welfare by Governor Kieft and 
Peter Stuyvesant, both of whom were often guests in her house. At one 
time, she contemplated returning to Salem, whereupon Deputy Gov¬ 
ernor Endicott wrote to Governor Winthrop, urging him not to let her 
return unless she retracted all her obnoxious views. Her son Henry 
removed to Virginia, and some chroniclers declare that she went with 
him, but it is believed that she is buried in the old graveyard, neglected 
and forlorn, almost opposite the house. 

It was in this part of Brooklyn that, when Washington sent word 



6?^ In Old New York 


335 


of the approach of British troops, a boy watched for them, perched on 
one of the steep Dutch roofs, and in the early dawn, spied the line of 
red advancing, and gave the alarm. When the Battle of Long Island 
was fought, wounded patriots were brought to the Moody house, which 
was converted into a hospital, the women of the neighborhood nursing 
them. It is told that the occupant of the house then was as determined 
as Lady Deborah herself, for when a British flag was raised here at 
another time, she promptly hauled it down. In 1789, Washington was 
entertained here. 

By an odd coincidence, the present owner, who has occupied the 
old house for five years and loves it, was born in England, not five 
miles from where Lady Deborah was raised. She has a collection of 
interesting old copper, brass and iron utensils, a kettle which once be¬ 
longed to Lady Deborah, a waffle iron, branding iron, tongs, etc., 
all hand made, and furniture. It is thought that the place may be 
bought by the city or some patriotic organization for a museum, 
and certainly it will be a pity if it is not preserved. 

Although the present owner has never seen it, there is a ghost, and 
she admits having heard odd sounds. Stairs sometimes creak late at 
night, as though beneath an invisible tread, and once, when she and her 
son had lingered late beside the open fire, a strange moaning was heard. 
The son asked what it was, but rejected possible causes proffered by his 
mother, and finally announced that it was the swinging back and forth 
of a certain upper window shutter. The next day he removed that 
shutter — but the sound persisted. 

For a long time, the house was known around Flatbush as the Hicks 
homestead. Cornelia Van Sicklen married Thomas Hicks, came to it, 
and lived here, while the Hicks family owned it for almost all of the 
last century. 

At 1752— 84th Street the old Van Brunt house stands, but can 
hardly long survive. A story and a half high, of plastered stone, the 
upper part of wood, one corner has already been removed to make room 
for a street. Within are rather small rooms, with big old fireplaces, 
and there is a large high attic reached by steep, narrow stairs. 



33<> Historic Houses of Early America 


When Mrs. Van Brunt saw the British troops drawing near, her 
slaves crowded weeping around her. Calmly she directed them to har¬ 
ness horses to a cart, in which she packed them, her children, and such 
of her belongings as could be added, and departed for the Hendrik 
Lott home, one of the children losing a sunbonnet on the way, as later, 
an old woman, she delighted to tell. Arrived safely, Mrs. Van Brunt 
decided that she had made a foolish move, so packed up and returned 
home again. Finding her house occupied by British officers, nothing 
daunted, she entered, remarked that the house was hers, and since she 
showed her intention of remaining, the British assigned part of it to 
her use. (One suspects that the original was larger than what has sur¬ 
vived.) A short time later, the lady appeared again, and demanded 
“ my cows.” 

“ Madam,” one of the officers is said to have replied, “ the cows 
have been requisitioned by us.” 

She was not to be rebuffed, and persisted in her demands until one 
cow was returned to her, which she is said to have kept in the cellar, 
lest it be again taken from her. 

Long Island outside of Brooklyn was early settled, Southold and 
Southampton in 1640, and Easthampton eight years later. In the lat¬ 
ter town the John Howard Payne home stands, filled with old furni¬ 
ture. In 1653 a party of ten families located at Oyster Bay, already 
known for some years by that name. All over the Island old houses of 
more or less historic interest survive, and among these is Walt Whit¬ 
man’s birthplace, at Huntington. 

This house, still a private residence, was built by the poet’s father 
in 1810. The old Dutch door still leads into the dining room, and in 
the attic some of the wooden pegs holding the old roof in place may 
still be seen, while cupboards beside the chimney are in several of the 
lower rooms. 

In one of these first floor rooms, which has a great fireplace, it is 
said that the poet was born, and he lived in the house for some years. 
His father was a carpenter, and did his work well, for the building is in 
excellent preservation. 




The Fellowcrafts Studio, Albany, N. Y 

The upper hall, Schuyler Mansion, Albany. Here in old times the young people used 

to dance. 



The Fellow crafts Studio, Albany , N. Y. 


The lower hall. 















Wing of the very old Schenck house, Mill Island, Brooklyn. This The Memorial house, New Paltz, New York. This, the home of 

is probably the oldest house in that Borough. one of the little group of French Huguenots who settled here, is 

now preserved as a museum. 














In Old New York ^§5 


337 


At Roslyn the house in which William Cullen Bryant lived for 
years, and which was built in the early days of the last century, still 
stands, although more modernized than the Whitman house, and in 
Jamaica may be seen the old home of Rufus King, one of the framers 
of our Constitution, twice our Minister to Great Britain, and three 
times United States Senator. 

Since 1639, Gardiner’s Island has been known by the name of the 
family which then acquired it. Lion Gardiner purchased it from the 
native Indians, his title being confirmed by James Farret, who three 
years earlier had been empowered by William, Earl of Stirling, “ Sec¬ 
retary of the Kingdom of Scotland,” to sell lands for him on the whole 
of Long Island, although at that time the Dutch were in possession 
there. 

In a series of leaflets compiled by Morton Pennypacker, and issued 
in 1919 by the North Shore Bank, Oyster Bay, the following pretty 
story is told: 

“ Wyandanch, Sachem of all the Long Island tribes, had a son and 
daughter who were the idols of his heart. One day a party of Narra- 
gansett Indians came across (to Long Island) in their long canoes, and 
taking advantage of a favorable opportunity, killed the braves who hap¬ 
pened to come within their reach, and carried away the Sachem’s daugh¬ 
ter. Fortunately, Lion Gardiner met them and rescued the maiden. Gar¬ 
diner made little account of this, and it would soon have been forgotten 
but for the appreciation and thoughtfulness of Wyandanch. Appearing 
before the authorities on July 14th, 1659, he recorded a deed to a tract 
of land running from Huntington town across the Island, including 
the present village of Smithtown, and in it he declares that he gives it 
to Lion Gardiner in appreciation of his kindness in rescuing his daugh¬ 
ter from the Narragansetts. Gardiner later sold a part of this property 
to Richard Smith, and it became known as Smithtown.” 

Shelter Island received its name because it served as shelter for 
Quakers and others, persecuted because they did not hold the same 
doctrines as their accusers. A house known as Sylvester Manor, well 
over 130 years old, stands to-day on the site of the much older home of 



338 Historic Houses of Early America 


Nathaniel Sylvester. Bricks for the early house were shipped from 
Holland. Mr. Sylvester was a sugar trader with the West Indies. When 
Quakers came begging for a safe harbor he gave it, and it is told that 
George Fox preached to the Indians from the doorsteps of the manor 
house. 

Other refugees here were Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick, 
after they had been imprisoned, whipped, and banished from Boston 
because they did not believe as the Puritans. Their son and daughter 
had been ordered sold into slavery, but to his everlasting credit, the 
captain who was directed to take them on his ship to the Virginia slave 
markets positively refused to do so. The parents died in the Manor. 
Mr. Sylvester’s rent for their home is said to have been “ one lamb 
annually if demanded.” 

Along the east bank of the Hudson, so many are the towns and 
houses with historic associations that an entire volume might be de¬ 
voted to them alone. In the city of Yonkers is a house preserved now 
as a museum, which was built on one of the early land grants in the old 
Dutch days. 

Adriaen Van der Donck, whose daughter married into the old 
Dutch Van Cortlandt family, came to New Netherlands in 1641, and 
was sheriff of Rensselaerwyck. He received a valuable grant of land 
from the Dutch West India Company for his services as peacemaker 
between Director Kieft and the Indians. He was a Yoticker> and from 
this title Yonkers derived its name. 

Van der Donck built a mill on his grant, and in 1672, Frederick 
Philipse acquired a third interest in the grant, and built Manor Hall. 

Philipse came to America when about twenty-seven years old, be¬ 
fore 1653, and was Peter Stuyvesant’s carpenter, probably more of a 
builder, and had a number of workmen under him. He lived in New 
Amsterdam, was a highly successful trader, and is even said to have 
had dealings with pirates, landing their goods in a small creek, and 
conveying them by an underground passage to the cellar of his Yonkers 
home, where he entertained lavishly. 

He died in 1702, his son, Frederick, predeceased him, so it was 



In Old New York. ^5 


339 


the grandson who became known as the second Frederick Philipse. But 
seven years old at his grandfather’s death, he was left in charge of his 
grandmother, and for his share of the estate received that on which 
stood the Manor House. He and his grandmother lived in state in New 
York, with seven servants to wait upon them. Later, he went to Eng¬ 
land to be educated, and there, when he grew to manhood, married 
Joana, daughter of Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brockholls. 

This Frederick Philipse is identified with the beginning of New 
York’s park system. In 1745, he enlarged the Manor House to three 
times its original size, put in wainscotings, ceilings with plaster ara¬ 
besques, then coming into fashion, a broad staircase with mahogany 
rail, and made other improvements. In the enlarged residence, he en¬ 
tertained Governor Clinton, when for the first time Neperhan Har¬ 
bor was used for embarking troops. 

In 1750, Philipse came into ownership of the other part of the 
estate on which had been built the Castle, but the Manor remained the 
residence. He kept fifty servants, thirty of whom were white, and on 
his two annual rent days, feasted his tenants in feudal style. Susannah, 
his daughter, was married about this time to Beverly Robinson, and 
went to live opposite West Point. 

In 1751, Frederick’s son, Frederick, succeeded him. He built St. 
John’s Church, Tarrytown. His sister Mary was courted by Washing¬ 
ton, but preferred Roger Morris, and the young couple used to ride 
together, fifty miles at a time, over the estate and adjoining country. 
They were married in Manor Hall on January 19th, 1758, her brother 
giving the bride away, wearing the gold chain and jeweled badge of his 
ancestral office, Keeper of the Deer of the forests of Bohemia. During 
the festivities, according to an old tale, an Indian, wrapped in a red 
blanket, appeared among the guests, and addressing the bride, re¬ 
marked: u Your possessions shall pass from you when the Eagle shall 
despoil the Lion of his mane.” 

Mary Philipse Morris is said to have pondered this saying often, 
wondering what it could mean. It certainly came true, for after the 
Revolution, the Morrises, like the Robinsons, Philipses, and others, 



340 


Historic Houses of Early America 


being Tories, their estates were confiscated. Morris and his wife went 
to England, Philipse was arrested, sent a prisoner to New Rochelle, 
then to Hartford, Connecticut, and finally, given his parole, was 
allowed to live in Middletown until after the war, when he, too, went 
to England. 

Although Tryon burned many American houses, when the Amer¬ 
icans had an opportunity to burn Philipse Manor they spared it. At one 
time, it was Sir Henry Clinton’s headquarters. 

In 1885, the confiscated estate was bought by Cornelius P. Low, 
but re-sold. In 1868, the town of Yonkers bought the manor house and 
some adjoining land, using the house for a Town Hall, and later a 
City Hall until 1911. It is now a museum, open to the public. 

Built of red bricks brought from Holland, and laid in Flemish 
bond style, the oldest part, dating from 1682, contained the south hall 
and staircase, the room behind this, a large and small room on the sec¬ 
ond floor, with attic above, and probably a leanto kitchen, long since 
removed. The old rooms are large, lofty, and have great fireplaces 
framed in Dutch tiles, those in the upper room with designs of Biblical 
subjects, chapter and verse duly given. 

The early front door has a quaint, flawed, glass bull’s-eye, and the 
stairs, mounting with a landing, although far less ornate than the 
newer front staircase, are unusually fine for the period. On the walls of 
the lower old room hang part of the collection of seventy-one portraits 
of prominent Americans, including three of Washington, and one of 
every president since, owned by the Association now in charge of the 
house. This lower room has the old paneled fireplace wall with cup¬ 
boards on eadh side, and the floor planks are very broad. Deep window 
seats testify to the thickness of walls. 

At the time when the manor house was built, the only interrup¬ 
tion to the view southward, towards Manhattan, was old St. John’s 
Church, near the present Geddes Square. 

When the addition was made, the entrance was changed to the east 
side. Two great doors with massive strap hinges open here, one into the 
kitchen, an enormous room, possibly originally divided. The adjoin- 



In Old New York 


341 


ing dining room is at the right of the other door, and on the other side 
of the wide hall, from which broad stairs with fine bannisters ascend, is 
the drawing room, in which Mary Philipse was married. It has a highly 
ornate plaster ceiling, elaborate and beautiful hand carved woodwork, 
the doors on either side of the beautiful paneled mantel surmounted 
by elaborate broken pediments. The walls here, as in the older portion, 
are enormously thick. 

One room above, its fireplace framed by Dutch tiles, is as when 
built, but some years ago, rooms on the other side of the hall were 
thrown into one, to include the attic as well, making a large hall. This 
is now used as a Chapter Room by the Daughters of the American Rev¬ 
olution, and is decorated with replicas of early American flags, includ¬ 
ing that of Hendrik Hudson. 

The Manor House at Tarrytown, formerly known as the Castle, 
which for the past twelve years has belonged to Miss Elsie Janis, had 
a life of vicissitudes. After passing to Frederick Philipse, Third, it was 
used as a tenant house, then after the estate was confiscated, was sold 
again and again, and had been empty for a year when the present 
owner bought it. 

Here, too, one part of the house is older than the other. The first 
faced at right angles to the present, and comprised the rear hall and 
staircase, one room on either side, with perhaps part of the present 
library and dining room. The large drawing room, wide hall and stair¬ 
case, with rooms above these, are additions, although not recent. But 
although different owners have made changes, they seldom undertook 
to break through the massive walls of plastered stone. When Miss 
Janis added a window to the dining room, it was a long job to remove 
the solid wall. The old beams supporting the ceiling of this room are 
left exposed, very large and square, hand hewn. 

The house is charmingly placed, back from the highroad, while the 
brook which flows beneath the Headless Horseman’s bridge runs 
through these grounds, where once stood an old mill, now vanished. 

Near Katonah, is the old estate of John Jay, first Chief Justice of 
the United States Supreme Court, first Governor of the State of New 



342 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


York, and our first Minister to England. Built in 1782, the house has 
been occupied ever since by his descendants, the present owner being 
his great-granddaughter. About a year ago, it was seriously damaged 
by fire, and valuable papers destroyed. From here, Jay went to Paris 
to sign the Treaty of Peace after the Revolution. The estate is part of 
85,000 acres, originally owned by Madame Brett. 

Fishkill is a historic old town, which in Revolutionary days ex¬ 
tended from Fishkill landing, including the present Beacon, and back 
to the Connecticut border. 

Although no battle was fought here, there were skirmishes, and 
furthermore, the Fishkill patriots rendered valuable services by pre¬ 
venting the union of two British forces which might have meant a dif¬ 
ferent result in our struggle for independence. Night after night, 
watch fires burned on these mountain tops, from which Beacon Moun¬ 
tain takes its name. 

Fenimore Cooper’s story, The Spy , is laid in this section, and 
Harvey Birch is said to be an actual person, who was imprisoned in the 
old Dutch Reformed Church at Fishkill, taken for trial to the Whar¬ 
ton house, from which he escaped, and hid in a cave in the mountains. 

The Wharton house, although long occupied by those of other 
names, has historic interest besides, for Washington often came here 
to confer with the patriots. Until a few years ago, a great oak tree 
opposite the house, to which he is said often to have tied his horse, 
stood, but was blown down in a severe storm. Its picture, framed in its 
own wood, is cherished in the Wharton house. 

This stands on the outskirts of the town, on the Albany Post Road, 
a lawn shaded by fine trees stretching between house and highroad. 
It has been modernized, but the beautiful staircase at the rear of the 
broad hall survives, and so do a couple of the big old fireplaces. A 
curious iron ring which once encircled the old tree is preserved. Some 
say that it was used not merely for tying horses, but that runaway sol¬ 
diers were fastened to it and then flogged. 

For six weeks, Lafayette lay ill with typhoid fever in Fishkill. 

In 1683, the Province of New York was divided into twelve coun- 



6?^ In Old New York ^5 


343 


ties, Dutchess being immediately north of Westchester. At this time 
there probably were no white settlers in this territory, but they came 
soon after. The first grant was to Robert Livingston, who acquired his 
“ Manor ” Rombout j then came Schuyler, who received two tracts, one 
of these Red Hookj the third was the Poughkeepsie grant, in 1697j 
the fourth that same year, to Adolphe Philipse, and another, known 
as the Great Partners’; in 1703 the Rhinebeck and Beekman grants 
followed, and in 1806 the “ Little Nine Partners’ ”, given under the 
colonial Governor Bellomont. 

In 1701, the statement was made by the Colonial Governor to the 
Lords of Trade, London, that: “ Mr. Livingston has on his grant of 
16 miles long and 24 miles broad, but four or five cottages, as I am 
told, men that live in vassalage under him, and work for him, and are 
too poor to be farmers, having not wherewithal to buy cattle or stock 
a farm. Old Frederick Philipse is said to have about 20 families of 
those poor people who work for him on his grant. I do not hear that 
Frederick Philipse’s son, Colonel Schuyler, or Colonel Beekman have 
any tenants on their grants.” 

At this time, class distinctions were very sharply drawn. In the first, 
were the large land owners. Lawyers were in the second class, since 
it was considered that members of this profession often rose to high 
office. Merchants were in a third class, and of these it was gravely said 
that “ many rose suddenly from the lowest ranks of the people to con¬ 
siderable fortunes, and chiefly in the last war, (the French and Indian 
War), by illicit trade.” Lieutenant Governor Cadwallader Colder made 
this statement in 1765. 

One of the original eight men to receive the “ Little Nine Part¬ 
ners’ ” grant was Augustine Graham, son of James, Attorney General 
of the Province. He came of a very old and eminent Scottish family, 
claiming descent from the ancient Kings of Briton, of the third cen¬ 
tury. 

In 1125, William de Graham was one of the witnesses to Holy 
Rood House foundation charter, and his son received a grant of lands. 
The older line finally became extinct, the succession passing to a younger 



344 


6 ?^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


branch, then known as lords of Montrose. James, Baron Graham, later 
known as the “ Great Marquis,” was descended from the two lines. 

Born in 1612, he married Magdalene, daughter of Lord Car¬ 
negie, and a portrait of him by Van Dyck is said to hang in Warwick 
Castle. He espoused the cause of Charles II, but when the latter’s 
forces were defeated, wandered through the country for three days 
without food, finally giving himself up to one McLeod, whom he be¬ 
lieved his friend. The man betrayed him for “ 400 bolls of meal,” and 
Montrose was executed, bearing himself on the scaffold with such dig¬ 
nity that those who came to jeer averted their faces. 

He left two sons, John and James. James succeeded to his father’s 
estates, John’s son, James, was the Attorney General, father of Au¬ 
gustine previously mentioned. 

Augustine, great-grandson of the Marquis, was a major in the 
Westchester militia, and one of the patentees in both the Great and 
Little Partners’ grants. His son, James, married his cousin, Arabella 
Morris, but neither they nor their son, Augustine, settled on the Little 
Nine Partners’ grant. It remained for the latter’s son James to do so. 
In what is now Pine Plains, on Lot 27, he built “ the stone house un¬ 
der the mountains ”j was the last of his name to occupy it, and dying 
in 1855, left no sons. A sister married a Thomas, and their descendants 
still occupy the old house. 

Morris Graham came here in 1767, after his father’s death (he 
was a son of Augustine, the Major), and remained for five years. He 
took for his share a tract two miles from Pine Plains, on the road to 
Poughkeepsie, and from rough stone quarried on the place, built a 
house 24 by 34 feet. When the Revolution broke out, he and two 
other Graham brothers joined the American Army, Morris becoming 
Colonel, and no member of the Graham family has occupied this 
house for over a century. 

The younger James Graham’s brother, Morris, built on Lot 29 a 
stone house in early colonial style, the first and only stone house in the 
town near Halcyon Lake. In 1859, this wa s purchased by Mr. Eno, 
and both he and his son used it for a tenant house. It is the only sur- 



6^ In Old New York ^§9 


345 


viving house associated with the name of Graham in this locality. 
Morris seems to have been the most prominent of the Graham brothers, 
and while living here engaged extensively in cattle breeding. 

Lewis, another brother, in 1773-4, built in the village of Pine 
Plains what was known as the Brush house. It consisted of a large 
hall with one room on either side, and was of oak logs, hewn 
square. 

Of the six sons of Augustine, three of whom were early settlers in 
Pine Plains, Lewis was a member of the first Provincial Congress, and 
Morris was a delegate to the second one. 

Rhinebeck and Spencer grants were settled fifteen or twenty years 
before Pine Plains, their settlers coming from the Palatinate. During 
the Revolution lead was mined here. 

The Livingston grant has been mentioned. In 1673, Robert came 
to this country, going first to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he 
remained but a year, removing to Albany, where he married Alida 
Schuyler, daughter of Philip and his wife, Margaret Van Schlotter- 
beck. In 1686 he received a grant of 160,000 acres, and built a manor 
house near Linlithgow on the Hudson. His son Philip succeeded him, 
and when the latter died in 1728 he was given a grand funeral at the 
manor, and also at his city residence on Broad Street, New York. “ A 
pipe of wine was spiced for the occasion, and to each of the bearers a 
pair of gloves and mourning scarf and handkerchief, with a monkey 
spoon was given.” Tenants on the manor were also given a pair of 
black gloves each. These monkey spoons had unusually broad flat 
bowls, the handle with a monkey carved on the end. The origin of this 
curious gift seems unknown. 

Philip’s son, Robert, inherited the southwestern part of the estate, 
and in 1730 built himself Clermont, close to the Hudson, standing on 
a cliff. This house, of brick and stone, was burned by the British in 
1777, t> ut re-built the following year, on exactly the same plan, and is 
still owned and occupied by the family. It is now the oldest Livingston 
house in existence, for the original manor house is gone. 

Both Philip and his son Robert were deeply interested in the wel- 




34-6 6^ Historic Houses of Early America 


fare of the Indians, and Philip built many churches. These he always 
painted red, and the successor to one, the old Dutch Reformed Church 
in Dutchess County, near the manor line, is still known as the Red 
Church. 

The third Lord of the Manor placed iron mines and a foundry at 
the disposal of the Committee of Safety during the Revolution, and his 
five sons served in the Continental Army. Of these, four built resi¬ 
dences on the manor estate. Oak Hill, built in 1795, belonged to Rob¬ 
ert’s son, John. The Revolution broke the entail in which until then the 
estate had been held. 

In a biography of Francis J. Morgan, Mrs. Delafield tells that, 
in the autumn of 1773, Robert was talking with his son, Judge Robert, 
his grandson, later Chancellor Livingston, and Montgomery, husband 
of his granddaughter. He remarked: “ This country will be indepen¬ 
dent, but I shall not live to see it, neither will you, Robert, (to his son). 
You, (turning to his grandson) will, and Montgomery may.” Judge 
Robert and his father died before our independence was declared, 
Montgomery was killed at Quebec, but the future Chancellor did live 
to see the day, as his grandfather had predicted. 

The Chancellor built for himself Arryl House, on the manorial 
estate, but now in ruins. Later, he inherited Clermont. He had made 
experiments with boats propelled by steam, and, while living in Paris, 
returned to his apartment one day and remarked to his family that he 
thought he had found a man who could help him with his schemes. 
This man was Robert Fulton, and the first steamboat to sail up the 
Hudson was named Clermont. 

It is the Chancellor’s great-grandson who now occupies this large 
two story and a half house, Clermont, on the Hudson. 

In 1615, the Dutch re-built on Castle Island, the “chateau” or 
fortified trading post built at an earlier date by the French. By 1624, 
there were huts there, covered with bark, and a log hut, Fort Orange. 
Sixty odd years later, there was a “ city ” of one hundred houses on the 
site of Albany. 

The first Van Rensselaer came to this country from Holland in 



6?^ In Old New York ^5 


347 


1660, and a village near Wykerk is still known by their name. But this 
man was not the original grantee. 

The Amsterdam Chamber at the time of the Dutch occupation of 
New York, made a Patroon of any member of the company who would 
found a colony, and conferred on him baronial honors. He might ap¬ 
point his own civil, military and judicial officers, import slaves, etc. 
The Patroon retained one tenth of all grain, fruits, etc., his tenant re¬ 
ceiving a certain amount of free pasturage, but must pay one guilder 
for swine that ranged the woods. 

Kilian Van Rensselaer was a wealthy pearl and diamond merchant 
of Holland, and while his patent was pending, sent three of his own 
ships over in 1630, and purchased from the Indians a tract of land 48 
by 24 miles, extending on both sides of the Hudson. Then he died. 

His son’s guardian, Van Schlectenhorst, waged fierce combats for 
his ward’s rights with Peter Stuyvesant. His estate, Beverwyck, now 
Albany, became separated from the rest, but Governor Andross never 
executed the order, and under English rule it was restored. The Pa¬ 
troon was authorized to levy a tax of three beavers on each house on 
his domain for thirty years, and afterwards to come to an agreement 
with the occupants. Andross’ successor purchased feudal rights over 
the settlement, Albany, from the Patroon in 1685, and the next year 
the town of Albany was incorporated. 

The third Van Rensselaer Patroon, Johannes, succeeded to the title 
in 1685, but never came to this country. His half brother, Jan Baptist, 
succeeded as director. 

Only bronze tablets now mark the site of the first manor house, 
and its successor, built in 1765 by Stephen, seventh Van Rensselaer 
Patroon, and to which he brought his young wife, Catherine, daughter 
of Philip Livingston. This stood outside the present city until 1893, 
when it was torn down, stones and timbers being shipped to Williams- 
town, Massachusetts, where it was set up again for a college fraternity 
house. 

Fort Crailo, a large red brick house of most irregular shape in the 
rear, stands close to the river in what is now Rensselaer, but which was 



348 Historic Houses of Early America 


known to the Dutch as Greene Bosch, because, when they sailed up the 
Hudson, they found this spot covered with pine trees. It was long 
known as Greenbush, and lands here formed part of the Van Rens¬ 
selaer grant. The house was built for a member of that family, very 
stout and staunch, that it might serve as a fort. Holes for muskets still 
pierce the front wall. 

It was occupied as headquarters by General Abercrombie at the time 
of the French and Indian wars, and here, so the story goes, while sit¬ 
ting on the well kerb, an English army surgeon, watching the arrival 
of the raw colonial troops coming to reinforce the British regulars, 
wrote the doggerel lines of Yankee Doodle, struck with their uncouth 
appearance. A secret passage was said to lead from the old well to the 
cellar of the house. 

For a number of years, no member of the Van Rensselaer family 
ever lived here, and the last owner, a descendant, Mrs. Susan De Lan- 
cey Van Rensselaer, not long ago offered it to the State of New York. 
The offer was accepted, but as yet nothing has been done to restore it, 
or open it to the public. The windows and doors are boarded up, and 
the place looks forlorn, although the walls are solid. 

Meanwhile, the Daughters of the American Revolution, with more 
enthusiasm than accuracy, have placed a tablet on the facade stating 
that it is “ supposed to be the oldest building in the United States. 
1642.” This is the year of its erection, but of course it is by no means 
the oldest building. 

Still surrounded by extensive, even though diminished grounds, 
is the old Schuyler mansion, Albany, open daily to the public. Built in 
1761-2 by Philip Schuyler, Major General and member of the Con¬ 
federacy Congress before the Revolution ended, it was a noted home 
of a noted man. The grounds originally sloped down to the Hudson 
River. 

One enters a small circular vestibule, and then passes into a very 
broad hall, from which rise wide stairs, the bannisters having hand 
carved spindles of three different designs to each tread. The single 
upper window of the rear fagade is on one of the two landings. Down- 



6?^ In Old New York 


349 


stairs are a handsome dining room, a beautifully paneled drawing room, 
in which, in 1780, Elizabeth Schuyler was married to Alexander Ham¬ 
ilton, the room being now known as the Hamilton room. Behind is 
General Schuyler’s office, and there are wide fireplaces, some still 
framed by their original Dutch tiles. 

Upstairs is a very large central hall, which was used as a reception 
room, and here, in its gala days, the young people used to dance. Doors 
and woodwork throughout this mansion are very beautiful. The very 
large bedroom over the Hamilton room was Mrs. Schuyler’s, and 
opposite was that occupied by General Burgoyne, while a prisoner here. 
So well treated was he during his captivity that afterwards he spoke of 
it before the British Parliament, while for souvenirs, when leaving, he 
presented two of the Schuyler children with his handsome paste shoe 
buckles. These came down as treasured relics in the family until pre¬ 
sented to the .„wum, which is installed in another of the upper rooms, 
the fourth being the old nursery. Above all is the great attic, and on 
one window frame two boats were long ago cut by childish fingers, with 
the names: “ Peter Schuyler, Jr.”, and “ Hannah B. Latham.” 

The house is filled with fine colonial furniture, and the gay paper 
which covers the walls of the upper hall was made from the original 
French blocks, 1800 pieces being required. 

Philip Schuyler, builder of this mansion, was a descendant in the 
fourth generation from that Philip who emigrated to this country from 
Holland before 1650. It was the latter who took four Mohawk 
chiefs back to London, where they were presented by the Earl of 
Shrewsbury to Queen Anne. 

His descendant had an adventurous life. Once, while walking in 
his extensive grounds, a bullet whistled close by. Stepping behind a 
tree, Schuyler fired in the direction from which the bullet had come, 
heard an Indian yell, but although he pursued him and found his tracks, 
the man escaped. 

In 1781, there was a plot to capture him, and take him to Canada. 
Tories, Canadians and Indians for several days surrounded the house, 
and finally forced an entrance, whereupon the family took refuge in 



35° Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


the upper rooms. In the confusion, the youngest member of the fam¬ 
ily, a baby, was left behind downstairs, and the elder sister went down 
to get her. She was chased by Indians, and fled upstairs again, presum¬ 
ably with the baby. An Indian threw his tomahawk at her, but it 
missed, lodging instead in the bannister rail, near the newel post, where 
its mark may be seen to this day. 

At the time that he was plotting treason, Benedict Arnold, then 
a trusted officer in the Continental Army, visited Schuyler, and tried 
to sound him out for information which might be valuable to the 
British, also thinking that he might win Schuyler over, but he failed, 
for Schuyler was an inflexible patriot. 

From the roof of this house the family listened to the guns of the 
Battle of Saratoga, and here they were cheered with news of the vic¬ 
tory. At one time, Mrs. Schuyler is said to have set fire with her own 
hands to their wheat fields, that the British might not secure the 
grain. 

Schuyler had a very fine library which Aaron Burr often consulted. 
Alexander Hamilton came to the house one day to consult Schuyler, 
and it is said that then he met his future wife, Schuyler’s daughter 
Elizabeth. Her father approved the match, so they were married in the 
drawing room. 

Washington, Lafayette, Kosciusko, Baron Steuben, Hamilton, 
Generals Greene and Knox were entertained in this hospitable home, 
when they were making a military tour of inspection. 

When Burgoyne came here a prisoner, he may have anticipated 
harsh treatment, for he had done all possible injury to American prop¬ 
erty, burning and destroying, and had burned one of his host’s own 
houses. With him came the Baroness Riedesel and her family, which 
so crowded the house that some of the General’s men were compelled 
to sleep on mattresses on the floor, but so courteously were they treated 
that when he took leave, Burgoyne is said to have been quite overcome, 
as he expressed his thanks to his host. 

The western side of the Hudson River is no less historic. 

Kingston was almost entirely burned by the British, and of the 



6?^ In Old New York ^§5 


35i 


five or six houses left standing, only one, the Van Steenburg house on 
Wall Street, was entirely undamaged. Now an attractive private resi¬ 
dence, although modernized, it still has many of the quaint old 
features. A story and a half building, with the old dormer windows on 
the upper floor, the sloping Dutch roof, and original Dutch door, with 
its great brass knocker, are still in place. A hall runs through the middle 
of the front and old portion, which probably originally, as now, con¬ 
sisted of a room on either side, but an addition has been built on in the 
rear. 

What is known as the Senate House, on Clinton Avenue, with¬ 
stood British attacks, although it may have been damaged. As a tablet 
beside the door states: “ Col. Wessel Ten Broeck, born at Westphalia 
in 1633, built this stone house about 1676. The Senate of the State of 
New York met here in 1777, and until October 16, 1777, when the 
British burned Kingston.” 

In 1775, the house was occupied by the Van der Lyns, and in it the 
artist was born that year. The large room at the left of the entrance 
is now called by his name, and contains a number of his paintings and 
personal belongings. He was educated at Kingston Academy, and 
showed such talent, that under the patronage of Aaron Burr, he went 
to Paris to continue his art studies. 

Across the hall is another square room, filled with old furniture, 
utensils, documents, etc., and beyond this what is known as the Colo¬ 
nial dining room. 

The old Dutch kitchen, with big fireplace and Dutch oven has been 
little altered, but many changes, not improvements, have been made 
in the house since it came into State ownership seventy-five years ago. 
The Senate Chamber occupies the entire depth of the house, with 
Dutch doors at the front and back. Although strap hinges, Dutch doors, 
hand wrought latches and locks, old glass bull’s-eyes, etc., abound, and 
are genuine, most of them have been brought from other old houses in 
this section. 

Upstairs are five rooms with small windows and sloping ceilings 
beneath the high-pitched roof. 



352 Historic Houses of Early America 


The State will shortly build a fireproof museum behind the old 
house, which will then be furnished throughout as a colonial dwelling. 

It is open daily and gratis to the public. 

From Kingston, a couple of trains run daily, or one may travel by 
a fine motor road up through beautiful country to the old town of 
New Paltz, less visited than it merits. 

On its Huguenot Street, down by the Wallkill River, a placid 
stream, are the oldest houses, the original settlement of what was then 
Paltz. Where Huguenot Street meets the River road, is a small grassed 
triangle, setting for a large boulder, with the following inscription: 

To the memory and in honor of 
Louis Du Bois 
Christian Deyo 
Abraham Hasbrouck 
Andre Lefevre 
Jean Hasbrouck 
Pierre Deyo 
Louis Bevier 
Anthoine Crespel 
Abraham Du Bois 
Hugo Frere 
Isaac Du Bois 
Simon Lefevre 

“ The New Paltz Palatinates, who driven by religious persecution 
from their native France, exiled for conscience* sake came to Amer¬ 
ica after a sojourn in the Rhine Palatinate near Nauheim here estab¬ 
lished their homes on the banks of the Wallkill, settled the country 
purchased from the Indians, and granted by patent issued by Governor 
Edmund Andross on the 27th day of September, 1677, and nobly 
bore their part in the creation of our free government. The Huguenot 
Patriotic Historical and Monumental Association of New Paltz erects 
this monument the 29th day of September, 1908.” 





The old Bevier house, New Paltz, New York. 



Photo by Patter. Beard 


One of the old houses at Old Hurley, New York. This town was settled before New 
Paltz, and to the latter the Huguenots removed. 







The Abraham Hasbrouck house, New Paltz, New York. Residence of another of the 
twelve French Huguenots who settled here. 



Home of Louis Du Bois, leader of the Huguenots who settled New Paltz. 







6?^ In Old New York ^§5 


353 


Much history is briefly summarized in this inscription. These 
names are those of the twelve men associated with their leader, Louis 
Du Bois. There is a tradition that Abraham Hasbrouck served in the 
English army, and there met Andross, which accounted for the latter, 
when Governor, giving the little group such a large and well located 
tract of land. Abraham Hasbrouck’s house still stands, opposite the 
church. Long, low, of stone, with high-pitched roof and dormer win¬ 
dows, it is explained that when each of his sons married, Has¬ 
brouck built on an addition for him, and within are several floor levels. 
A tablet on this house gives the date of its building as 1719. 

The widow of Abraham’s son, Daniel, had a number of boys, and 
u Wyntje’s kitchen ” was a favorite place for holding cock fights. 

Close by is the Frere house, built about 1720, and in 1732 known 
as the Louw house, having passed to Frere’s son-in-law, Johannis 
Louw or Low. When the new stone church, long since gone, replaced 
one of logs, the Freres gave more than one fourth of the money needed. 

The Bevier house, owned by that family from 1697 to 1735, when 
it passed to the Eltings, has been vacant for several years. Its old roof 
projects at one side over a porch, with floor perhaps once flagged, or 
merely of hard packed dirt. Here the old people used to sit until the 
bell summoned them to church opposite. A massive Dutch door opens 
on the porch. There was a very deep subcellar to the house, which, like 
the others, is built solidly of stone, the mortar of lime, loam and 
chopped straw. 

All of these are on the right side of the street as one comes from 
the monument. On the left stands the Du Bois house, built in 1735* 
and still occupied by descendants of that name. In spite of modern 
changes, the original stone building with loopholes is easily distin¬ 
guished, but although built to serve as a fort, it is pleasant to know 
that it was never needed for that purpose. The settlers bought their 
land from the Indians, and lived peaceably with them, although oc¬ 
casionally some of the nearby settlements had trouble. Some of the 
original settlers in Paltz first located in Old Hurley, not far away, 
where there are also a number of old stone houses, smaller and less pre- 



354 


6?^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


tentious than these of New Paltz. The Esopus Indians attacked Hurley 
in 1663, and carried off Catherine Du Bois and three children, but 
later they were rescued. 

Ye Paltz lived in peace with the Red Men, and the old fort was the 
home of the leader of the community, and a social meeting place for all. 

The Manorial House, behind the monument, is the only one of this 
group, save the Library, on the main street, located in another old 
house, which is open to the public. The former was the home of Jean 
Hasbrouck, built in 1712, quite the mansion. In 1899 it was purchased 
for a memorial museum, and is open every day. 

The Dutch front door unfortunately is a replica, but one will in¬ 
stantly notice the great beam extending the entire length of the hall, 
running through the house. Two large rooms are on either side, and 
in all but one, the great beams supporting the ceiling are uncovered. 
Stairs in the rear are broad, but unmistakably old, their treads deeply 
wornj the narrow flight near the entrance was probably built in when 
the house was later occupied by several families. Upstairs is a great 
attic. 

Jean Hasbrouck’s large family and his slaves lived here, and the 
lower room at the right was a store. The Eltings also kept a store, and 
there was a great rivalry between the two. 

The Paltz community had a unique system of government, and it 
is said that none other similar existed save in one South African colony, 
likewise founded by the French Huguenots. The results of all labor, 
crops, etc., went into a common store, and for fifty years, the heads of 
the twelve original families met in executive and legislative session, 
to administer affairs, make necessary regulations, appoint the building 
of fences, fines for stray cattle, etc. This body, known as The Dusine, 
had broad powers, and continued in authority until 1820. The first 
outsider to own property in Paltz was Jean Cottin, schoolmaster, who 
came in 1689, stayed seven years, then removed to Kingston, and mar¬ 
ried Catherine, widow of Louis Du Bois. 

Few frame houses were built here until after the Revolution, and 
the oldest of these stood on Huguenot Street. 



In Old New York 


355 


Horse racing on the meadows was popular, especially after town 
meeting. On the brook which empties into the Wallkill were three 
mills, their wheels turned by its waters, but only traces of them now 
remain. 

Pierre Deyo, one of the original patentees, had a son, Abraham, 
rather a weakling. Not so his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac Du 
Bois. So strong was she that she was nicknamed “ Captain Batche.” One 
day when a slave was impudent, she gave him such a blow that she 
broke his arm, whereupon, since there was no doctor in Paltz, she sent 
him to Kingston to have the arm set. She stood in the mow and pitched 
hay the day before her son was born. 

In Newburgh, the house known as Washington’s Headquarters, 
now the property of the State, stands in a park in the heart of the city. 
Tradition says that a log house, built about 1709, stood on this site, but 
nothing definite is known of it, although the first settlement in what 
is now Newburgh, dates from that year. 

The oldest part of the present large stone house was built not later 
than 1727, and some say twelve years earlier. This was the southeast 
corner, consisting possibly of but two rooms on the river side; that 
known as the room with seven doors and one window — actually there 
are eight doors — and the adjoining apartment which was the dining 
room when Washington occupied the house as headquarters, from 
March 31,1782, to August 18, 1783. The hall, two rooms on the south 
and one on the north of it, with a broad new staircase were added in 
1770. The first staircase, now closed to the public, is beside the old 
door, now the rear entrance. 

Old Dutch doors, strap and H hinges are plentiful. An odd feature 
is that three great fireplaces in the oldest portion of the house, as well 
as one in the newer kitchen, have their hearth entirely unenclosed by 
chimney walls, save one at the rear. 

In 1609, Hendrik Hudson sailed into Newburgh Bay, but the 
earliest settlers here came from the Newburg Palatinate, Germany, 
on a German patent, about 1708, although the patent was dated 1719. 

Among these first settlers were Michael Weigand or Weigant, 



35^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Andreas Valch, Mynders and Webber. They laid out two streets, one 
the present South Street, south of the Glebe, the other on the western 
boundary of the patent, which became the Newburgh-Cohocton Turn¬ 
pike. 

Elsje Hasbrouck, a widow, bought a considerable amount of prop¬ 
erty in the 1750’s, at “a place called Quassaick,” the old name for 
Newburgh, and in 1754, transferred it to her son Jonathan. The 
land on which the Headquarters House stands was part of the origi¬ 
nal Michael Weigant grant. The Hasbroucks held it until 18 50, when 
it was acquired by the State of New York. 

They had been in this country since 1660; Abraham, as has been 
mentioned, being one of the original twelve families which founded 
New Paltz. He seems to have previously been associated with Louis 
Du Bois in founding Esopus, second settlement in this part of the 
Province, Haverstraw being the first, on a tract bought from the 
Indians by Balthazar De Hart, an early emigrant from Holland. 
De Hart took the oath of allegiance to the Duke of York, and his 
brother, Jacob, first settled in New Amsterdam, where he became a 
prosperous merchant. The Palatine settlement of Quassaick was fourth 
in this section, and was not known as Newburgh until 1762, when 
Highlands was divided into Newburgh and New Windsor. 

Jonathan Hasbrouck, owner of the stone house, was a supervisor, 
and built a grist mill. When a Revolutionary meeting was held at 
Paltz, he represented Newburgh there. 

It is not true that Alexander Hamilton stayed in the old house, 
nor did any of the Hasbrouck family occupy it while Washington lived 
in it. At that time, the northwest room was the parlor, the room across 
the hall had been a store, kept by Mrs. Hasbrouck, and the adjoining 
room remained the kitchen. The two small northeast rooms were 
Washington’s bedroom and private office. These newer rooms have 
hand carved mantels, and more modern fireplaces than the others. 

It was in this part of the State that the Tory Colonel Ettrick lived. 
He invited Washington to dinner at his place, Ettrick Grove, and 
planned treacherously to take him prisoner on that occasion. But Wash- 



6^ In Old New York. ^j§5 


357 


ington was warned. He kept his dinner engagement, but during the 
meal several horsemen were seen approaching. The Colonel too hastily 
taking them for his men, cried: “ General, you are my prisoner.” 

But they were American, not British soldiers, and Washington 
calmly replied: 

“ I believe not, sir, but you are mine! ” 

Ettrick’s life was spared, and he was allowed to go to Nova Scotia. 

In 1858, a very old gentleman, James Donnelly, of Newburgh, 
wrote or dictated some reminiscences, “looking back almost eighty 
years.” He tells that he often saw Washington, and that he “ seemed 
different from anyone else. Mrs. Washington was short and stout. 
I thought she was homely, and that she never could have been a hand¬ 
some woman.” General Wayne he “ saw almost every day. He was 
short and heavy set, and had red eyes,” as Mr. Donnelly remembered, 
because as a child, he “ had a cross dog that had red eyes, and the 
soldiers said he had Mad Anthony’s eyes.” He also recalls the store 
kept by Mrs. Hasbrouck in the room mentioned, but does not remem¬ 
ber ever to have seen Mr. Hasbrouck. Mrs. Hasbrouck always waited 
on customers herself. “ She was tall, thin, and dark, and laced herself 
up in stays. She always carried a great bunch of keys by her side, and 
held all her conversation with her servants in Dutch.” 

In 1779, Washington was at New Windsor, where huts were built 
for the army, and a building “ to serve for public worship on Lord’s 
day,” for lodge meetings, and public assemblies. Washington’s head¬ 
quarters then were in the house of William Ellison, but that house is 
gone. 





XV 



New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s 


Historic Old Houses ^5 


The first settlements in New Jersey were made as early as 1615, by 
the Dutch, and although many Swedes followed, the Dutch retained 
possession until 1664, when the Province passed to the Duke of York, 
who divided it between Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. 

The town of Elizabeth is very old, the first settlement having been 
made in the year when the English obtained control. 

In August, 1665, the ship Philip brought Captain Philip Carteret, 
a young man of twenty-six, with a Governor’s commission from Lord 
Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. He brought with him, beside several 
other English gentlemen and laborers, “ sondry ffrench men that know 
the making of salt in ffrance.” 

The house still known as Carteret Arms stands on the site of a long, 
low tavern, built before 1728. Officers stayed there, and it is said that 
Lafayette once danced at an entertainment held on its lawn. Nearby was 
a wharf, on the south side of the river, while on the north bank stood 
an old mill, built by John Ogden, one of the earliest settlers here. 
Philip Carteret was granted the land on which the present house stands 
in 1675, and it was built in 1795. 

After the Carterets, the Thomases owned it, then it was an orphan 
asylum, the Public Library, and in 1913 became the property of the 
Elizabeth Historical Civic Association. Before they acquired it, there 
had been many changes made. Four rooms and the hall between on the 
first floor had been thrown into one, the old stairs replaced by a modem 



6?^ New Jersey and Pennsylvania )S$5 


359 


flight in one corner. Upstairs there were less marked changes. The club 
is now making others, building a needed addition in the rear, but hopes 
soon to restore the lower floor to its original appearance, and install a 
replica of the old staircase. 

St. John’s Parsonage, now called St. John’s Home, stands on Pearl 
Street, set well back, with a garden in front. It was built at an early 
date not determined, but was enlarged in 1765, and largely re-modeled 
in 1817, which accounts for the fairly modern appearance. 

According to tradition, it was built by Andrew Hampton or Ham- 
ton, who eloped from Scotland with Lady Margaret Cummins, and a 
stone above the front door used to bear the initials: A.M.H. (Andrew 
and Margaret Hampton), and the date: 1696-7. 

In 1749 it was purchased for £162 for St John’s Parsonage, and in 
1902 became St. John’s Home. 

On Rahway Avenue still stands the “ old chateau,” on what was the 
estate of Cavalier Jouet, descended from Daniel Jouet, Mayor of An¬ 
gers, and Marie Cavalier, sister of Jean, the “ Camisard ” hero of the 
war of Cevennes, during the reign of Louis XIV. Camisard was, it will 
be recalled, the title given the Protestants in Cevennes, when they rose 
after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, because they wore shirts 
over their ordinary dress, as a kind of disguise. Cavalier was their chief 
leader, and was so successful that some concessions were granted by the 
French Government. He, however, went to England, and later became 
Governor of the Isle of Jersey. 

Cavalier Jouet remained loyal to England during our Revolution, 
because that country had afforded his ancestors a refuge When they were 
compelled to leave France. His property here was therefore confiscated. 
His grandfather’s house opposite, built before 1750, has been torn 
down, and modern houses built on that part of the estate, but although 
lots have been sold on three sides, a large tract of land still remains to 
the survivor. 

Set well back from the street, with a lawn shaded by fine old trees, 
the Chateau, built in 1759, is a long brick house, with a central portion 
three stories in height, and large two-storied wings on either end, each 



360 Historic Houses of Early America ^§9 


with its own entrance, practically separate seven-roomed houses. The 
central portion has a wide hall, with a great Dutch door, its planks ar¬ 
ranged in V’s. Front and rear doors both have fan- and side-lights. The 
stairs run around a well directly to the third floor. 

On the northwest corner of Rahway Avenue and Cherry Street, 
little changed outwardly, save that a filling station has been installed in 
what probably was a front garden, is the De Hart house, built in 1766, 
either by Colonel Jacob De Hart, or his son John. The latter was 
Member of Congress, and an early Mayor of Elizabeth. During the 
Revolution, the house was occupied by British soldiers. It is a typical 
two story stone dwelling, still with the old wooden shutters, is in good 
preservation, and a private residence. 

On East Jersey Street are three fine old specimens. At No. 1073 
stands the Boudinot house, which for fifty years has been a home for 
aged women. Save that the old high gambrel roof has been replaced by 
two modern stories, to give additional rooms, there is little changed. 
The unusually broad door admits to a wide hall, from which stairs with 
broad, low treads, fine bannisters and handrail mount in the rear. There 
are, as usual, the two large, high-ceiled rooms on either side, those on 
the left being separated merely by ornate pillars and railings. The 
woodwork is elaborately hand carved, with Corinthian columns in half 
relief, cornices, and mantels, and there are several of the plain variety 
of Christian doors. In the hall, the wainscot panels are very broad. 

This house was built between 1750 and 1763 for Mayor Samuel 
Woodruff, but during the Revolution, the Hon. Elias Boudinot, Mem¬ 
ber of the Continental Congress, lived here. In 1781, the body of the 
Reverend James Caldwell, who was shot and killed by British soldiers, 
was placed on this doorstep. Boudinot, as President of the Continental 
Congress, signed the treaty with Great Britain which ended the Revo¬ 
lution, and Washington stopped here on the way to his first inaugura¬ 
tion, when he was given a luncheon lasting over two hours. The Boudi¬ 
not china, made to order in Europe, and silver specially for the family 
in New York, were used on this occasion. The house was sometimes 
known as Boxwood Hall, was occupied at one time by the Hon. James 
Dayton, and later was a girls’ boarding school. 



6 ^ New Jersey and Pennsylvania 


361 


On the same side of the street is the Scott house, square, of brick with 
small front porch surmounted by a charming Palladian window. It is for 
sale, and since it is in the heart of the city, will probably soon be replaced 
by a modern apartment building. Dr. William Barnet, surgeon in the 
Revolutionary Army, lived here from 1763 to 1790. In 1781 it was 
plundered by British soldiers. After Dr. Barnet, Colonel John May, 
who married General Winfield Scott’s daughter, lived here for many 
years. 

On the opposite side of the street is the fine old Belcher mansion, 
on a lot originally owned by John Ogden, built in 1742 for Jonathan 
Belcher, Royal Governor of the Province from 1751 to 1757, and a 
patron of the College of New Jersey. Jonathan Edwards visited here. 
Later, William Peartree Smith, a Revolutionary patriot occupied it, 
and entertained Washington and Alexander Hamilton. His daughter 
was married here in 1778 to Elias Boudinot. While Smith occupied it, 
it was raided by the British. Still later, the residence of Governor 
Ogden, he entertained Lafayette, and in 1901, the Frenchman’s grand¬ 
son, Count Lafayette was a guest in the house. 

Still another old house on this street is the Bonnell, built by 
Nathaniel Bonnell or Bunnell, one of the early settlers. For more than 
sixty years, it has been owned and occupied by the Barber family, de¬ 
scended from another early settler. A fine old brass knocker, although 
not originally on the door yet is rightly in place. It is one of the spread- 
eagle knockers designed for members of the Society of the Cincinnati, 
and Colonel Francis Barber, ancestor of the present residents, was one 
of the original members of that Society. 

As first built, the house had two rooms on each side of the passage 
on both of its two floors, and although some changes and additions have 
been made, the early, plainly molded mantels remain, the staircase is 
the original, and outwardly the house seems little changed. The story 
and a half type, with dormer windows, frequently found in dwellings 
of its period all over the country, it is not unlike the Governor Page 
house in Williamsburg, Virginia. 

The present occupants treasure the original deed to the land given 
Nathaniel Bunnell. This is the second oldest house in Elizabeth. 



362 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


Oldest is Hetfield house, at the foot of Pearl Street, but in 1927 
unoccupied and dilapidated. It was built in 1667, slaves doing most of 
the work, and living on the land. Hetfield was a weaver, and gave the 
land for the Presbyterian church and burial ground. 

Outside the city, on the Salem road, stands the old Livingston man¬ 
sion, built in 1773 for New Jersey’s Revolutionary Governor. Known 
as Liberty Hall, it has been modernized and altered, but the marks 
made by angry Hessians may still be seen on the stairs. 

To Liberty Hall, fifteen year old Alexander Hamilton came from 
the West Indies, and following Livingston’s advice, attended school in 
Elizabeth. 

The Governor’s hobby was fruit growing, and he planted trees of 
many varieties. A shade tree planted by his daughter Susan was stand¬ 
ing at least recently. It was she who prevented her father’s correspon¬ 
dence with Washington and the Continental Congress from falling into 
the hands of the British. 

Her sister Kitty probably inadvertently saved the house from de¬ 
struction. One evening, a band of drunken British soldiers came and 
knocked. Kitty fearlessly opened the door, intending to ask what they 
wanted. She was dressed all in white, and at sight of her, the foremost 
soldier started back in terror, exclaiming: 

“ Good God! It is Mrs. Caldwell, whom we killed to-day.” 

He had evidently been of the party, if not the actual wretch who, 
as the murdered parson’s wife spoke to them, took deliberate aim, fired, 
and killed her instantly, the bullet piercing her heart. 

At all events, they departed, leaving Liberty Hall unharmed. 

Mrs. Washington stayed here in 1789, her husband joining her the 
next day. 

In 1790, after eloping with the schoolgirl daughter of Baron Hom- 
pasch, and leaving a wife behind him in England, Lord Bolingbroke 
came here and bought the place, which later returned to the original 
family through its purchase by the daughter of Governor Livingston’s 
brother. 

The Ford House, Morristown, preserved by the Daughters of the 



6 % New Jersey and Pennsylvania 


363 


American Revolution, who have filled it with old furniture, and many 
other articles of historic value, is open to the public. It was Washington’s 
headquarters for a longer period than any of the other houses thus dis¬ 
tinguished. 

It was begun in 1776 by Colonel Jacob Ford, Junior, who made a 
compact with the Provincial Congress of New Jersey to “ erect a pow¬ 
der mill for the making of gunpowder, an article so necessary at the 
present time.” Congress agreed to “ lend him $ 12,000 of the public 
money for one year, without interest, on his giving satisfactory security 
for the same to be repaid within the time of one year in good merchant¬ 
able powder.” This mill served through the Revolution, but Ford died 
in 1777. 

At the time that Washington lived here, Mrs. Ford and her son 
Timothy lived in one side, and Washington’s party, which sometimes 
comprised eighteen persons, were crowded into the rest of the house. 
Crowded they must have been, for except for the kitchen wing, there 
are but four rooms on each of the two floors of the house, with an 
attic above. The east room on the second floor was General and Mrs. 
Washington’s bedroom, and in January, Washington complained that 
there was “ no kitchen to cook dinner in, and almost no room for 
servants, for 18 of his family,” (as he called the young officers of his 
staff) were crowded together in what had been the kitchen, “ and 
scarce one of them able to speak for the colds they have.” A log house 
to serve as kitchen was finally built in answer to Washington’s 
plea. 

Young Timothy Ford was ill for months in the house, from a 
gunshot wound, and Washington used to stop at his door every morn¬ 
ing, on his way downstairs to breakfast, to inquire for him. 

In April there arrived the Chevalier de la Luzern, Minister from 
France, and Don Juan de Miralles, Spanish representative, for whom, 
on April 24th, 1780, a grand ball was given. De Miralles, however, 
was so ill that at first it was proposed to cancel the ball, and although 
this was decided against, the Spanish gentleman died soon afterwards. 

Alexander Hamilton and Tench Tilghman were members of Wash- 



364 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


ington’s staff here, and both courted Elizabeth Schuyler, when she 
came to live with her parents in the Campfield house nearby. 

On the Cherry Hill Road, just outside of Princeton, is Tusculum, 
where lived from 1768 to 1794 Dr. John Witherspoon, President of 
Princeton University, and during his term of office, many students, 
later distinguished patriots, were graduated. Tusculum has been re¬ 
stored and furnished according to that period by the present owners. 

Dr. Witherspoon was a member of the convention which framed 
the Constitution of the State of New Jersey} helped to overthrow 
Governor William Franklin} with Benjamin Rush and Richard Stock- 
ton signed the Declaration of Independence, and urged the President 
and Secretary of the Colonial Congress to do the same; he was further¬ 
more a member of the secret committee of Congress which helped to 
raise money and supplies for the Continental Army, served on boards 
of war and finance, and in November, 1776, was chosen to confer with 
Washington, and together with Richard Henry Lee and John Adams 
was appointed on a committee the following winter, to encourage the 
patriots when their cause looked gloomy, and Congress was driven 
from Philadelphia to Baltimore. 

Princeton students had early shown their patriotic feelings when, 
in 1774, they gathered u all the steward’s winter store of tea, and hav¬ 
ing made a fire on the campus, we there burnt near a dozen pounds, 
tolled the bell, and made many spirited resolves.” 

In Princeton is charming old Morven, taking its name from a 
quotation from Ossian: u Sons of Morven, spread the feast, send the 
night away in song.” Shaded by fine old trees, it once stood in a far 
more extensive tract, and was built by slave labor, in 1701, for John 
Stockton, since when it has been occupied by his descendants. Its tim¬ 
bers and woodwork all hand hewn, the rooms are large, and high- 
ceiled, the mantels, door and window frames, and paneling made from 
great planks, all from timber cut on the estate. There is little attempt at 
ornamentation, save for a curious molding with small parallel hori¬ 
zontal lines cut with a rasp, which molding is found around doors 
and windows, at the top of wainscoting, etc. The house has a square 



6?^ New Jersey and Pennsylvania )^§5 


365 


central portion with a long wing on either side, the old kitchen was in 
the slave quarters, a two-story building separated from the left wing 
by a brick paved court, across which food was carried to be served. 
The quarters were in two distinct parts, unconnected, one for the men, 
the other for the women, and still stand. 

In 1844, some rather unfortunate alterations were made by Com¬ 
modore Stockton. He tore out the old woodwork in the library wing, 
replaced the wooden mantels with modern marble ones, raised the 
roof, etc. The main part of the house is practically unchanged. Seven 
rounded archways are an unusual feature of the first floor, with its 
hall running through the middle, a massive door, topped by a fanlight 
at each end. The old window shutters are lined with iron, to help ward 
off Indian attacks, for the house stood on an Indian trail. 

From its builder, Morven descended to his son Richard, the Signer, 
who married Annis, daughter of Elias Boudinot, whose house in Eliza¬ 
beth has been mentioned. The present Mrs. Stockton is descended 
from Samuel Woodruff, for whom that house was built. 

Almost every room in Morven is distinguished. On September 15th, 
1789, Mrs. Annis Stockton wrote: 

“ I had the honour of seeing the President and Mrs. Washington. 
They partook of a Collation of fruit and cake, and wine and some sweet¬ 
meats which I had in readiness.” This was served in the drawing room. 
Across the hall, in the dining room, ten Presidents and all the Gov¬ 
ernors of New Jersey except the last have been entertained. In the 
morning room, in the right wing, to which one descends by three steps, 
Dr. Benjamin Rush was married to Julia, eldest daughter of the Signer, 
in January, 1776, by Dr. Witherspoon. “ Julia was between 16 and 17 
years of age, and I was between 30 and 31,” as the groom noted in 
his “ Commonplace Book.” 

Dr. Witherspoon at first declined to come to Princeton, his wife 
refusing her consent, but Mr. Stockton went to Scotland, and suc¬ 
ceeded in overcoming the lady’s objections, so her husband came, and 
lent distinguished aid to American independence. 

In the library, re-built in 1781, Daniel Webster wrote one of his 



366 Historic Houses of Early America 


famous speeches. The bedroom above was originally connected with 
the library by a secret staircase. 

On the landing of the fine old staircase, Susannah Stockton stood 
to attract the attention of the last “ royal Governor of the Jersies,” 
(the minx!). Her twin sister Mary, handsomer, as the portraits of both 
show, was evidently popular with students, and not long ago a pane of 
glass was found in Nassau Hall on which was scratched: “ Pretty 
Polly Stockton.” u Sukey ” was witty, sharp-tongued, and somewhat 
of a termagant. She did not marry until she was twenty-five, and then 
into a Canadian Tory family, the Cuthberts. Since her sympathies were 
all with the American patriots, it is not strange perhaps that her hus¬ 
band’s father alluded to her as “ Alexander’s devil wife,” while she 
wrote her family that the birthnight ball in her new home did not 
compare with a similar entertainment in Philadelphia. 

The bedroom, opening on the stair landing contains an earlier 
Susannah’s own four-post bed, recently brought back after long ab¬ 
sence. It is beautifully carved in pineapples, pomegranates, sunflowers 
and Prince of Wales feathers, and bears a signed, hand woven, em¬ 
broidered counterpane, for in the border is worked: “ A. B. & S. S.” 
(Annis Boudinot and Susannah Stockton, the makers). 

The large bedroom above the drawing room was that of the Signer, 
and later occupied by Cornwallis, when he made Morven his head¬ 
quarters. 

Portraits of many members of the family hang on Morven’s walls; 
of the Signer and his wife, the latter wearing appropriately a sprig 
of white myrtle, which she was the only one ever to grow in the old 
garden; in the hall hangs a full length portrait by Waugh of the 
Commodore, showing the gun, Peacemaker, which, fired in peace times, 
for a woman’s whim, exploded, killing two and wounding several 
persons; here, too, is a painting of the Commodore and his three 
daughters on horseback, showing the old Arabian which lived to good 
old age, but broke his neck coming from the stable one day. The Com¬ 
modore’s old naval flag, with its slightly different red from modern 
ones, is also pictured with its owner, and the flag itself is treasured 



New Jersey and Pennsylvania 


367 


here, having been brought out on three recent occasions: President 
Cleveland’s visit to Princeton, Armistice Day, and President Harding’s 
visit. 

The garden must not be passed by. Its first history recorded dates 
from a letter written in 1766-7, by the Signer, from London to his 
wife at home: “ I am making you a charming collection of bulbous 
roots, which shall be sent as soon as the prospect of freezing on your 
coast is over. The last of April, I believe, will be time enough for you 
to put them in your sweet little flower garden, which you so fondly 
cultivate.” He goes on to say that he intends visiting Mr. Pope’s gar¬ 
den at Twickenham, and that he shall take with him “ a gentleman 
who draws well to lay down the exact plan of the whole.” 

The garden was, it is believed, laid out in accordance with this 
plan, which was treasured, but presumably perished when the Hessians 
burned the library wing. 

Some time before 1770, two young French Huguenot emigres 
came courting Abigail and Susannah, sisters of the Signer, and brought 
with them chestnuts from a famous tree in the courtyard of the old 
fortress chateau of Loche-sur-Inde, Touraine. The great tree on the 
north side of Morven, and others bordering a walk sprang from 
these nuts. 

In 1776, news of the approach of the Hessians came to Morven. 
Plate and valuables were hurriedly packed and buried, so well that 
only one box fell into enemy hands, and Mrs. Stockton and the children 
were sent for safety to Monmouth, Mr. Stockton escaping barely in 
time. The Hessians occupied the house, doing much damage, and 
among other things, cutting the throat of the portrait of its master. 
When they left, they set fire to the house, but young Richard, later 
known as the Duke, because of his elegant manner, was hiding with 
a slave in the woods, and saw this. Returning as soon as the 
soldiers were gone, he 'gave the alarm, and the flames were ex¬ 
tinguished after damaging seriously the library wing. The boy later 
became a renowned lawyer. 

Richard Stockton eventually was captured, put in irons, and sent to 



368 Historic Houses of Early America JSjSJ) 


a British prison ship in New York. When finally released, he was al¬ 
ready ill with the disease of which he died three months later. His wife, 
a poet, of decided literary tastes, proved herself a good manager, over¬ 
seeing the estate, selling farm produce, and in time was thus able to 
restore the burned wing. She also maintained the reputation for 
hospitality. 

The present mistress of Morven succeeded in obtaining a copy of 
Pope’s original plan, and has restored the old garden accordingly, with 
many varieties of flowers and shrubs, some from historic European 
estates. Morven’s 200th anniversary was celebrated by setting up 
in the garden a sun dial, for which Dr. Van Dyke wrote an inscription. 

The 225th anniversary was charmingly celebrated indoors, with 
family movies, recording the best-known incidents of its early history, 
the actors being children, descendants of the first Stocktons, dressed 
in their ancestors’ costumes. 

Trenton was first known as Ye Falles of Ye De La Ware, and one 
of the first emigrants to come here was Mahlon Stacy, a Friend, from 
Hull, England. He built a grist mill in 1680, and called his place Balli- 
field, which his son Mahlon sold to William Trent. The latter came 
from Inverness, settled in Philadelphia, became wealthy, and removed 
to New Jersey. He either built or altered an early house at Ballifield, 
importing bricks from England, adding a tenant or lodge house, and 
named the place Bloomsbury. The lodge stood where now is the corner 
of Union and Market Streets. Later, Chief Justice Lettis Hooper 
owned it, and during the Revolution, Dr. William Bryant, then Colo¬ 
nel John Cox, Assistant Quartermaster under General Greene. Cox, 
another Philadelphian, owned an iron foundry which furnished or¬ 
dinance for the Revolutionary Army. 

Bloomsbury, on the main stage route between Philadelphia and 
New York, was always a favorite stop. William Penn was entertained 
here in the early days, and Mrs. Cox, daughter of Sir Francis Bowes, was 
a brilliant hostess, and the mother of six lovely daughters. Martha 
Washington and her distinguished husband, the Duke de la Roche¬ 
foucauld, Lafayette, and his aide, Jean Fersen, were some other guests. 



New Jersey and Pennsylvania 


369 


Fersen was said personally to have driven Marie Antoinette from 
Paris to Varennes during the days immediately preceding the French 
Revolution. Mrs. Cox was on the reception committee when Wash¬ 
ington visited Trenton in 1789, and two of her daughters were among 
the young girls who strewed his pathway with flowers as he entered 
the city. 

The original Bloomsbury was a square brick house with large, lofty 
rooms, only three on each of the two stories, with a wide hall through 
the middle. There are large fireplaces set in paneling, mahogany 
doors, massive old shutters, and a graceful staircase with mahogany 
handrail. Many years ago, a large two-story addition was built, now 
occupied by the caretaker, while the rest of the house is closed, and al¬ 
most all of the furniture removed, the owner not caring to live here. 
On the walls of the hall may still be seen the handpainted wall paper, 
scenes from El Dorado, unique in this country, presented by Joseph 
Bonaparte to a French family then occupying the house. 

Some years ago, the owner tried to have it copied, but since it was 
impossible to reproduce the old coloring, a workman with great care, 
taking over a year for the task, removed it, and transferred it to can¬ 
vas, which now hangs on the walls. 

The place was later known as Woodland. 

The Battle of Trenton raged along North Warren, then King 
Street, and especially near old St. Michael’s, on the site of the present 
church. Until very recently, although so re-modeled as hardly to be rec¬ 
ognizable, the former dwelling of Pontius Delare Stille stood on the 
corner, next the church, but it has now been razed, and the site is to be a 
community park. When in 18 84 the old roof was removed, many bullets 
were found imbedded in it. 

This house was headquarters and watch guard house for the Hes¬ 
sians before the battle, Colonel Rail or Rahl making his headquarters 
in the Stacy Potts residence opposite, home of Trenton’s first City 
Treasurer. This disappeared more than half a century ago. 

The old Douglass house, where on January 2nd, 1777, Washington 
met with a number of his officers, and laid plans for the battle which 



37° Historic Houses of Early America 


resulted in victory next day, still stands, but removed from its original 
site to the Mahlon Stacy Park. Bow Hill, residence for a time of Joseph 
Bonaparte, and the Hermitage, another old Trenton home, are both 
standing, but the latter has been greatly modernized. 

Visitors to Philadelphia’s Sesqui-Centennial will remember the 
High Street exhibit. Of the buildings carefully and accurately repro¬ 
duced there none is now standing, but Philadelphia is fortunate in the 
number of historic houses in her midst which have been preserved. 

The old home of Mordecai Lewis, later of the Fisher and Wharton 
families, survives on Spruce Street, but as a shabby rooming house, 
only the fine old classic doorway suggesting its period of distinction. 

On Eighth Street, the Morris house, built in 1787, is not only in 
excellent condition, set in a large garden, but is still occupied by the 
Morris family. Its handsome paneled rooms are filled with beautiful 
old furniture, and it is still distinguished, although now in a street 
devoted to business. 

The American Flag House and Betsy Ross Association, formed to 
raise money to preserve the building at 239 Arch Street, has accom¬ 
plished this, and offered the house to the City of Philadelphia. The 
only difficulty now is to decide whether or not the city shall be per¬ 
mitted to remove it to a park site. 

The old number and street were 89 Mulberry, and to this house 
Betsy, eighth of seventeen children, came as the twenty-one year old 
bride of John Ross, upholsterer, she being a good seamstress. The front 
room in which Betsy kept a shop is now used, somewhat altered, for 
displaying souvenirs, the little hall which led to the rear rooms has 
been removed. Behind the shop is an entry from which enclosed stairs 
lead to two upper floors, and another flight descends to what was a 
basement kitchen and dining room, now, through changes in the street 
level, a cellar. The doors have fine old latches and hinges. Behind this 
entry is the room in which Betsy made our first flag, 150 years ago, 
and here is a big old fireplace framed in the original blue and white 
Dutch tiles, with their Biblical subjects. 

When the Revolution broke out, Ross went as guard for ammuni- 



(5?^ New Jersey and Pennsylvania ^5 


371 


tion stores in Philadelphia, and was killed by an explosion when the 
couple had been married less than three years. Then the Continental 
Congress appointed a committee, Robert Morris, General Washington 
and George Ross, the Signer, uncle of Betsy’s husband, to confer on a 
design for the flag. They met at Betsy’s, and favored the six-pointed 
star, but she pointed out that that was an English star, and suggested 
those with five points instead, to which they agreed, and on June 14th, 
1777, she made our first flag. 

In her old home, the story that Betsy really sewed this first flag 
not in her Philadelphia home, but while visiting relatives on a farm 
called Success, in Cecil County, Maryland, is treated with scorn. 

Soon after making the flag, Betsy married Captain Joshua Ashburn, 
who fought in the Continental Army, was taken prisoner to England, 
and died there before the war ended. The Ashburns had two children. 
A young fellow prisoner and friend, John Claypoole, after his release 
came to Philadelphia, bringing Betsy some of her husband’s effects, 
fell in love with and married her. They had four daughters, all of 
whom married and lived to old age. Claypoole had been wounded 
in the Battle of Germantown, and when but forty-five years old 
was paralyzed as the result. Betsy cared for him faithfully until his 
death. 

By marrying her second husband, an Episcopalian, Betsy, a Quaker, 
lost her church membership, but as Claypoole was a Friend she re¬ 
gained it, and was buried in the Friends’ cemetery at Mount Moriah. 

In Fairmount Park are six old houses, four standing on their orig¬ 
inal sites. Of the others, the Penn house, believed to be the first one 
of bricks in Philadelphia, built in 1682, was removed here from Letitia 
Street two centuries later. Only the front room into which the door 
opens may be seen, with no furnishings save a few old prints, and a 
copy of the original land grant to Penn. His house, “ Solitude,” now 
used for office purposes, is in the Zoological Gardens. 

The other transplanted house is a large two-story and attic stone 
building, the Frankford country home of the Quaker Morris family. 
When completed, a descendant, Miss Lydia Morris, who is bearing 



372 


Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


the expense, will fill it with old furnishings, as many as possible the 
originals, and it will then be a city museum. 

Samuel Breck built “ Sweetbrier on the banks of the Schuylkill ” in 
1797. “It is a fine stone house, rough cast, fifty-three feet long, 
thirty-eight broad, and three stories high, having outbuildings of every 
kind suitable for elegance and comfort. The prospect consists of the 
river, animated by the great trade, carried on in boats of about thirty 
tons, drawn by horses; of a beautiful sloping lawn, terminating at the 
river, and nearly four hundred yards wide opposite the porticoes. 

“ In my family, consisting of nine or ten persons, the greatest abun¬ 
dance is provided; commonly seventy pounds of fresh butcher meat, 
poultry, and fish a week, and when I have company, nearly twice as 
much; the best and kindest treatment is given the servants; they are 
seldom visited by Mrs. Breck, and then always in a spirit of courtesy; 
their wages are the highest going, and are freely paid them when asked 
for; yet during the last twelve months we have had seven different 
cooks and five different waitresses. ... I pay, for instance, to my 
cook one dollar and twenty-five cents a week; to my gardener, eleven 
dollars per month; to the waiter, ten dollars, to the farm servants, 
ten dollars, etc., etc. Now if they remain steady (with meat three 
times a day) for three or four years, they can lay by enough to pur¬ 
chase two or three hundred acres of land.” Thus Mr. Breck wrote to 
a friend soon after occupying his new residence, now owned by the 
city, but not open to the public. 

Very beautiful is what is known as the Benedict Arnold house. 

Built in 1761, by John Macpherson, in the period of Philadelphia’s 
greatest cabinet makers, John Adams, when he dined here in 1775, 
described it as “the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania — upon the 
banks of the Schuylkill.” 

Macpherson, a brave sailor, made a fortune by privateering in the 
French wars, and according to Adams, having had “ an arm twice shot 
off,” as well as having been “ shot through the leg,” retired to live 
on his fortune. These injuries did not keep him from volunteering 
for service with the American Navy when the Revolution came, and 



■SB 



Morven, home for many generations of the Stockton family, at Princeton, New Jersey. 
















































Waynesborough, near Paoli, home of the Waynes for generations, and the birthplace 
of “ Mad Anthony.” It is still owned by the Wayne' family. 















New Jersey and Pennsylvania ^5 


373 


his son, Captain John Macpherson, died fighting in the American as¬ 
sault on Quebec. 

The services of the father were not accepted, and he found his means 
insufficient to maintain the handsome house that he had built. In 1770 
he leased it for the summer for £70, including the furniture, which 
was a large rental in those days, the usual sum paid for houses in Phila¬ 
delphia for the entire year being £100. Later, it was rented to Don 
Juan de Miralles, the Spanish envoy who died in the Ford house at 
Morristown, and in 1779 was sold to Major General Benedict Arnold, 
then commanding the American troops in Philadelphia, and who had 
been Captain John Macpherson’s commander at Quebec. 

Arnold, retaining a life interest, settled it as his wedding gift on 
lovely Peggy Shippen. Dr. Shippen, her father, had for some time 
refused his consent to this marriage, considering her suitor far too 
extravagant. He was appalled by the amount which Arnold spent in 
maintaining his household. Arnold took his bride to a house in town, 
and de Miralles had possession of Mount Pleasant as this house was 
called, until the death of the envoy, when the widow relinquished her 
lease. As Arnold’s treason was discovered in the following September, 
while he was in command at West Point, and his wife and child were 
taken to the British lines in New York during that November, it will 
be seen how improbable it is that any of the Arnold family ever lived 
in Mount Pleasant. 

Arnold’s property was confiscated, including his life interest in 
Mount Pleasant, which was sold to Blair McClenachan. Edward 
Shippen, to protect his daughter’s interests, finally purchased it the 
following year. During this period, the house had been leased to 
Major General Baron von Steuben. This brave soldier was so hor¬ 
rified at the discovery of Arnold’s treason, that with true German 
peremptoriness, he forthwith announced that any and every man in his 
command who bore the name of Arnold must change it immediately. 
Later he discovered one soldier named Arnold who had not obeyed 
this dictum. Demanding to know what he meant by this, the soldier 
replied that he would be more than willing to give up the name of 



374 6^ Historic Houses of Early America 


Arnold if he might take that of a brave hero and soldier. Asked what 
that name was, the soldier replied: “Von Steuben.” The Baron gave 
his consent, and the soldier adopted the name. After the war was 
over, he kept a tavern under his adopted name for years in New Eng¬ 
land. The Baron received a pension of $2,000 a year from the State 
of New York, for his services in aid of our independence. 

Whether Von Steuben lived in the house is uncertain, for about the 
time that he leased it, he left for Yorktown. Mrs. Arnold and her 
children returned to America in 1785^0 visit her family, and pos¬ 
sibly then occupied the house which her father had purchased. She 
did not find life in America comfortable, for people had neither for¬ 
gotten nor forgiven her husband’s treachery, so she returned to Eng¬ 
land, the house was sold in 1792 to General Jonathan Williams, and 
remained in his family until 1853. 

Fairmount Park included the house in its boundaries in 1868, and 
for a time it was known as the “ Dairy.” 

In 1923 restoration was begun by the park commissioners. As far as 
possible to discover, the original colors of paint have been used, a 
garden has been re-planted, and the entire house put in perfect con¬ 
dition, while valuable furniture of the period of its building has been 
loaned and placed in the old rooms. 

It is of brick, with hipped roof, two stories in height, with basement 
and attic. A wide hall runs through the house, opening on a porch 
from which there is a charming view of the river. Downstairs is a 
large drawing room occupying an entire side of the house, with two 
big fireplaces, the mantels surmounted by immense panels cut from a 
single plank, the framework elaborately carved. Across the hall is the 
dining room, and behind this are the stairs, and a passage leading to the 
basement. 

These stairs lead to a wide upper hall, lighted by beautiful Pal- 
ladian windows at front and rear, and there are three large bedrooms. 
Over the dining room, the guest chamber, with fine old cupboards on 
either side of the great fireplace, was once occupied by Benjamin 
Franklin, and a table with his initials now stands here. From the walls 



($${ New Jersey and Pennsylvania ^5 


37 5 


of this room when the house was being restored, it was necessary to 
remove thirty-seven coats of paint before what seemed the first one 
was discovered, and copied for the present color scheme of ashes of 
roses and cream. 

There are here none of the rooms paneled from floor to ceiling 
found in some old mansions. An unusual feature is supplied for har¬ 
mony j namely, false doors in the hall, directly opposite the two real 
ones opening into the drawing room, and again in the upper hall. 

One could spend a long time examining the beautiful furniture, 
silver and china assembled here, much of it with personal as well 
as historic interest. The house was fitted throughout with Venetian 
blinds, which must have been comparatively a new fashion, and an 
engraved card of the London tradesman who supplied them is still 
preserved. 

On the opposite side of the river in Fairmount Park, owned by the 
city, but leased, stands the fine old Belmont mansion. It has had a 
varied career, and for many years has been a restaurant, road house, 
eating stand, etc. In the autumn of 1926, a new tenant took possession, 
made extensive repairs, planning to open it as a first class restaurant, 
while the theatre already standing was restored for dances, summer 
concerts, plays, etc. 

The original part of the house, little changed save for the removal 
of some partitions, was built in 1745 by a member of the Peters family, 
probably William. He was an early colonist, and his brother Richard 
was Secretary of the Land Office under William Penn. 

In old Belmont, Richard, William’s son, was born, and here in 1828 
he died. William and his son took different sides when the Revolution 
broke out, and the Loyalist father returned to England, where he 
lived for the rest of his life. Richard, the son, devoted himself heart 
and soul to the patriot cause. He was Secretary of the War Board, later 
Member of Congress, and for nearly forty years, Judge of the United 
States District Court. A close friend of Washington, until a few years 
ago, a chestnut tree stood on the lawn and was always said to have been 
planted by the President, Judge Peters’ cane having been used to dig 



376 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


the hole for the roots. In 1824, Lafayette planted a white walnut tree, 
and this survives. 

The old portion of the house contains the present restaurant kitchen. 
Judge Peters was a wit, a most agreeable host, an eminent lawyer, and 
also took much interest in agriculture, and the restoration of the state 
farm lands. He was the first President of the Pennsylvania Agricul¬ 
tural Society. Among guests entertained in his beautiful home were, 
besides Washington and gallant Lafayette, Benjamin Franklin, Che¬ 
valier de la Luzerne, Baron von Steuben, Talleyrand, Louis Philippe, 
John Penn, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. 

In the old part, the narrow stairs, uneven floors and sagging ceil¬ 
ing, strong though it is, testify to the age. This wing connects with 
what was apparently a new house in itself, complete save that the old 
kitchen was used. This newer building has the spacious, high-ceiled 
rooms, the winding staircase, with broad low treads, of the later period. 

Laurel Hill, now in Fairmount Park, was known as the Randolph 
Mansion, but was built about 1748 by Joseph Shute. In 1760, Francis 
Rawles and his brother-in-law, Joshua Howell, bought it, Rawles 
taking the house, while Howell built himself one on part of the estate, 
and this stood until the city bought it for park purposes. 

When Rawles died, he left Laurel Hill to his widow, who married 
Samuel Shoemaker, a great friend of her late husband. She and the 
children of her first marriage were Friends, but Shoemaker was a 
member of the Church of England. Twice Mayor of Philadelphia, 
Judge of the County Courts, and Justice of the Peace, he did sign the 
Non Importation Act, but when the time came for the choice, adhered 
to the Loyalists. When the British occupied Philadelphia, he and Jo¬ 
seph Galloway were asked to take charge of civil affairs for them. 

In 1778 he was pronounced by the Americans guilty of treason., 
and when the British evacuated Philadelphia, Shoemaker and his step-, 
son, William Rawles, sailed for New York with the British fleet. All 
of his property, and even that belonging to his wife and stepchildren 
was sold, including Laurel Hill. Mrs. Shoemaker vainly applied for 
leave to go to New York and visit her husband and son, but two months 



6^ New Jersey and Pennsylvania ^§5 


377 


later, was told to go, under promise that she would not return to Phila¬ 
delphia without permission. She went, and remained a year, doing 
much to relieve the sufferings there of Americans imprisoned by the 
British, and even securing for some their liberty. 

Meanwhile, General Joseph Read, President of the State of Penn¬ 
sylvania, occupied Laurel Hill. In October, 1781, while only 
Mrs. Shoemaker’s daughters and other women were in the house, it was 
attacked by an angry mob, who broke the shutters, smashed the win¬ 
dows, but fortunately did not harm the occupants. 

The house was then sold to James Parr, for £5,000, and he leased 
it to the Chevalier de la Luzerne, French Minister to the United States. 
In 1784 Parr offered to sell it back to Mrs. Shoemaker for £400, but 
she declined this as excessive, and it was finally re-conveyed to her for 
£300. Two years later, in 1786, Mr. Shoemaker returned with their 
son. In 1828, it was sold by William Rawles to Dr. Philip Syng Physick, 
an eminent surgeon, and from him it passed to his descendants, the 
Randolphs, remaining in their ownership until purchased by the city 
in 1869. 

The Germantown road is the result of a “ peticon ” in 1719 from 
freeholders having “ Plantacons lying very remote in the country.” 
It was signed by fourteen of these, five of whom made their marks. 
They complained that a dirt road here in bad weather became mire, 
u horses were sprained and weakened.” In 1793 another petition was 
sent in, this time for a turnpike, and in 1801 a company was incorpo¬ 
rated to build “ an artificial road from Philadelphia to Germantown 
to the 10 mile stone on Chestnut Hill, and from thence to the new stone 
bridge on Perkiomen Creek.” 

Near the 19th milestone, on Lincoln Drive, a small house with the 
original stairs and floors still stands, near the site of the first paper 
mill in America, on the Germantown road. Here David Rittenhouse 
was born. Benjamin Franklin was a frequent visitor, and he and Ritten¬ 
house together watched the transit of Venus in June, 1769. 

In the heart of Germantown, with its gable end on Main Street, 
now Germantown Avenue, and surrounded on the other three sides 



37$ Historic Houses of Early America ^§9 


by charming lawns and gardens, stands Wyck, oldest surviving house 
here. The present residence originally consisted of two separate houses, 
the rear one, the older, built by Hans Milan, about 1690. His daughter 
married Dirck Jansen from Holland, and from this couple the German¬ 
town Johnsons descend. 

One of their daughters, Margaret, married Reuben Haines the 
Elder, in 1760, while Catherine married Caspar Wistar, as the name 
was then written. Reuben Haines visited England, and the home of Sir 
Richard Haines, Wyck, near Bath. He believed that Sir Richard was 
his ancestor, and returning to America in 1814, named his home for the 
English house. Although it was later learned that the two were not re¬ 
lated, the name was retained. 

Just when the front house was built is not known, but before the 
Revolution, a covered passageway lay between the two, and was used 
as an operating room during the Battle of Germantown, when the 
British occupied the house. The Americans are said to have attacked 
it vigorously from a house opposite. In 1824, this passage became a 
room, part of the one house then formed, the line where they were 
joined being easily discerned on front and rear fagades. About this 
time, the front house was altered to make the present large drawing 
room and bedroom above, instead of the original smaller rooms. A 
broader staircase was installed, the old one in the rear portion still re¬ 
maining, with its curious, irregular treads, set in the outer stone wall, 
and following the irregularities of the supporting stones. 

The same owner threw the old kitchen and an adjoining room into 
the present dining room, tearing out the old chimney and Dutch oven, 
using the bricks to build a garden wall. 

The present long, two-storied stone house, with an attic and dormer 
windows is charming. Great hinges, paneling, all the interesting fea¬ 
tures of its day are here, and it is filled with old furniture. Here is a 
beautiful chair made especially large for Richard, son of Caspar 
Wistar, who was of such size that a carriage had to be built specially 
for his use. Here is one of two chairs, the other in the Wister house, said 
to have been brought from France by Benjamin Franklin, and in it 



New Jersey and Pennsylvania )S$5 


379 


Lafayette sat when he visited Wyck. He breakfasted on that hot July 
day in 1825 in the Chew house, in the afternoon came to Wyck, and 
in the covered passageway, then as now a room, with French windows at 
either end, “ received visits from ladies and gentlemen of respecta¬ 
bility,” presented to him by Charles J. Wister, brother of Sally the 
diarist. “ The chair was placed on the right side of the passageway 
nearest the street, and the guests filed through into the garden at the 
rear. Here (they) were ‘ embraced by the General with his usual po¬ 
liteness and courtesy. ’ ” 1 

A tall, vine-wreathed stump in the garden is what remains of a fine 
chestnut tree, a seedling from the one planted by Washington at Bel¬ 
mont. 

One enters the Wister house directly from Germantown Avenue, 
but in the rear the old gardens extend for a long distance. In 1800 the 
original stone front of the house was unfortunately covered with peb- 
bledash, but the interior is little changed, and still owned by the 
Wisters. Much of the old furniture remains, and on shelves rising 
from floor to ceiling in the library may be found interesting volumes, 
although some of the rarest have been given to the Historical Society. 
Here is a large old clock, which used to announce the hour with a 
tune. Here are the paneled rooms, hand wrought latches and hinges, 
those on the heavy front double doors having additional curved pieces 
almost encircling the upper edge of the doors. Much of the furniture 
was made for early owners from timber cut on their estate. 

In the charming garden is the summerhouse in which Sally used to 
sit and meditate, and here are the ruins of the old observatory where 
the present owner’s grandfather used daily to take the sun time with his 
friend, Isaiah Lukens, reporting it to Washington. The two also made 
the first observations in this country of a transit of Venus. The ob¬ 
servatory was intact until a year or so ago, when it, with the mounted 
instruments, crashed down during a severe storm. 

Known as Grumblethorp, this house was built about 1744. In 1776 
the Wisters left it for the Foulke house, where Sally wrote most of her 

1 Sketch of Wyck , Charles F. Jenkins. 



380 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


journal. The British then occupied it, and into the drawing room 
General Agnew was brought to die. His old tattered headquarters flag 
is treasured here, as is the painted wooden figure of a British grenadier, 
believed to be the work of Major Andre. 

The fine old Johnson house, of hand cut native stone, was begun in 
1763 by John, son of Dirck Jansen, for his son, John, and not finished 
until 1768. It is now occupied by the Woman’s Club of Germantown, 
and twice a week may be visited. 

The Club has carefully restored it, the only marked change con¬ 
sisting in throwing two rooms into one, on the right side of the hall. 
Those on the other side on both floors have old fireplaces set in paneled 
walls, with cupboards on either side, and many old hinges and latches 
are in place. An ornamental archway divides the lower hall, and this 
ornamentation brought severe condemnation to the builder from his 
Quaker brethren. Some fine old furniture has been collected and in¬ 
stalled, notably a set of maple in a room furnished as a bedroom. 

Fierce fighting occurred near the house, and the marks of several 
bullets may still be seen. One pierced the shutter of the front left hand 
room, went through the heavy door, crossed the hall, and finally em¬ 
bedded itself in the opposite door. Here it remained for years, until 
pried out and carried off by a thoughtful visitor. Another bullet mark 
may be seen in the outer molding, while part of the fence riddled with 
bullets, once standing between this and the next house, is preserved by 
the Site and Relic Society, installed in another old Wister house. 

Two blocks away, set in an entire square, is the old stone Chew 
mansion, with many marks of bullets on its walls, while a mutilated 
statue also testifies to the fierce fighting which raged here. 

It was built in 1760 by Benjamin Chew, Attorney General of the 
Province, member of the Provincial Council, and later Chief Justice. 
The kitchen and servants’ quarters are in separate buildings. In the 
old coach house may be seen the high-swung family coach, its door 
handles of solid silver. Washington rode in this coach. 

During the Battle of Germantown, the family was absent. The 
British installed themselves in the house, and under Colonel Musgrave, 




A view of the reconstructed Old High Street, Philadelphia, as seen at the 
Centennial, 1926. The houses were built in exact accordance with the originals 
of which are gone — save that they were one third larger. 

















Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Museum, Memorial Hall, Philadelphia 

The hall and stairs of the so-called Benedict Arnold house, Fairmount Park. 








































6?^ New Jersey and Pennsylvania 


38i 


defended it against the Americans, who had placed their cannon oppo¬ 
site, where stands another Johnson house, not built until after the war. 
Musgrave placed a few soldiers at each outer door and window, 
others upstairs, even on the roof, and although the Americans battered 
in the front door with a tree trunk, the house was never taken. Five 
carpenters are said to have been kept busy all the following winter, 
repairing it. 

On this same avenue stands the stone Morris house, built in 1772, 
and occupied by Washington during the yellow fever epidemic in 
1 793-4. Watson’s Annals state that he was “ a frequent walker abroad 
up the Main Street, and daily rode out on horseback or in his phaeton.” 

This does not exhaust the list of interesting old houses here, merely 
mentions the most important. 

Beautiful Stenton, in the custody of the Pennsylvania Society of 
the Colonial Dames of America, standing at 18th and Courtland 
Streets, more than repays a visit. 

A large square brick house, with a long wing, it has been carefully 
restored, even to an old fashioned flower garden, with pump and well. 
Within the Dames have placed some fine old furniture. 

There are a beautiful staircase, big fireplaces, paneled walls, and 
many cupboards, all with old latches and hinges, those on the front door 
enormous. Downstairs are the usual four large rooms in the main por¬ 
tion, and in the wall near the stairs in the rear is what might pass for a 
bit of ornamental woodwork, high up near the ceiling, but in reality it is 
a listening wall. Within the adjoining room is a closet, and in the top a 
panel, which when pushed back reveals a compartment large enough 
for a listener. This was designed for use during Indian councils here, 
when many Indian delegations visited Stenton. Upstairs in a closet 
in the eaves, a secret passage begins, leading from attic to cellar. 

The house was built in 1728 by James Logan, Secretary of the 
Province, President of the Council, and for many years Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. An enormous apartment now 
divided, which extended across the entire second story front, was his 
library. Before the Battle of Germantown, Sir William Howe chose 



382 


6?^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Stenton for his headquarters; later it was occupied by Washington and 
his staff, and still later Washington was entertained here by Deborah 
Norris Logan. Other distinguished guests were Franklin, Lafayette, 
Dickinson, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Randolph of Roa¬ 
noke. Until acquired recently by the city, the place had always re¬ 
mained in the Logan family. 

On the Valley Forge Reservation, the Headquarters House is one 
of a group of old farmhouses, all of which were occupied when the 
Revolutionary Army was entrenched here. Among these is Mount Joy 
Manor Farm, then headquarters of General Varnum, home now of 
William Moore Stephens, oldest male descendant of the Stephens 
who purchased the estate from William Penn, in 1686. Not far away is 
the old Stephens homestead, in which eight generations of that name 
were born. 

Headquarters House, a two-storied and attic stone farmhouse, with 
a separate kitchen connected by a covered passageway, is daily open to 
the public, and has been furnished appropriately, although nothing is 
actually of Washington’s use. The attic chamber, with its sloping ceiling, 
is the room used by him, and in the rafter of the sloping roof directly 
over the stairs a section has been cut out, so that one of moderate height 
may pass beneath without stooping, but the tall Washington could not 
have done so. 

Front and rear doors are Dutch, and there are a number of old 
hinges. 

This is the “ little stone house near the house of Isaac Potts,” 
where the Washingtons spent the dreadful winter of 1777-8. Mrs. 
Washington wrote: “ The apartment for business is only about sixteen 
feet square, and has a large fireplace. The house is built of stone. The 
walls are very thick and below a deep east window out of which the 
General can look out upon the encampment, he had a box made which 
appears as part of the casement, with a blind trapdoor at the top, in 
which he keeps his valuable papers.” 

A log cabin built to serve as dining room has gone. 

Near Paoli, still occupied by Waynes, is Waynesborough. Captain 



New Jersey and Pennsylvania 


383 


Isaac, first of the family in America, was like his descendants, a brave 
soldier. He fought in the Battle of the Boyne, then came to the new 
country, and in 1724 built himself this house. His son, Captain Isaac, 
who fought in the French and Indian wars, enlarged it in 1765, a wing 
was added in 1802, and to-day the building is as solid as ever. 

Here the child later known as “ Mad Anthony ” was born. His 
father was a member of the Provincial Assembly. 

A large box bush near the house is said to have served “ Mad An¬ 
thony ” for hiding place while the British searched the house for him. 
Two miles away, near Malvern, he met with one of his greatest disas¬ 
ters, when the British surprised him and his men, killing eighty. This, 
the Paoli Massacre, occurred on September 20th, 1777. At his own re¬ 
quest, Wayne was court-martialed, but was honorably acquitted. 

Dawesfield, where this court-martial was held, stands near Blue- 
Bell, its owner in the fifth generation of continuous ownership by in¬ 
heritance. Her ancestor, Abraham Dawes, purchased four hundred acres 
here in 1726, and the house stands on part of this tract. Washington 
made it his headquarters in 1777. 

Near Swarthmore, at Leiperville is a house built by the present 
owner’s grandfather. Incidentally, Swarthmore, originally known as 
Westville, was the birthplace of the artist, Benjamin West; the house 
which his father occupied is still standing. 

The Leiper house, set well back from the road, on the side of a 
hill, has a beautiful old Ionic doorway. The house is plastered, painted 
yellow, with white trimmings. Over the door is a charming fanlight, 
and within some of the old doors are still in place. 

The builder had a stone quarry, still in operation, and planned a 
small railroad to haul the stone, but when he explained his plans to 
some Philadelphia friends, they ridiculed his belief that steam could 
haul loads on rails as rapidly as horses over roads. He built the rail¬ 
road none the less, and the tracks remain, although motor trucks are 
now used for bringing stone from the quarry. 

Mr. Leiper also invented a stone sawing machine, something un¬ 
heard of then, but was unable to perfect it, for the neighbors com- 



384 Historic Houses of Early America 


plained bitterly of the noise. Many years later, a group of men visited 
the house and examined the old model and designs with interest. 

Thomas Leiper was a dictatorial old gentleman. Frequently chosen 
as presiding officer by various meetings, he none the less had the habit 
if interested in the affirmative, of forgetting to put the negative vote. 
He had planned to build a canal in connection with the quarry, but this 
was pronounced far too visionary. In 1828, his son built the canal. 
Beside the quarry, Mr. Leiper owned cotton and grist mills, and en¬ 
gaged in the tobacco business. 

Not far away from Willow Grove, the old residence known as 
Graeme Park, built in 1721, still stands, now owned by the Penroses. In 
1722 it was reached by the Keith Road, through forests. Sir William 
Keith, appointed by Queen Anne Surveyor General of royal customs 
for the American colonies, at a salary of £500 a year, became involved 
deeply in debt, and under George II lost his office, and went to Philadel¬ 
phia. Friends asked Hannah Penn to appoint him Deputy Governor of 
Pennsylvania, he borrowed money, brought his family from England, 
and built this house, of which part of the old slave quarters also remain. 
Near the farmhouse stands a large boulder which Keith used as a test 
for the strength of applicants for work. If they could lift it, they were 
engaged. 

Keith returned to England in 1729, and twenty years later, died in 
the Old Bailey, London, imprisoned for debt. 

In 1739, the place was bought by Dr. Greene, whose daughter 
secretly married Henry Hugh Ferguson, since her father did not ap¬ 
prove of the match. Her husband urged her to confess, and one day 
it is said she had determined to do so, but before she spoke, her father 
dropped dead. His objections were apparently well founded, for Fer¬ 
guson wasted his wife’s property, and during the Revolution was ac¬ 
cused of treason, his wife’s estate confiscated. In 1777, this was restored 
to her, since it was proved that she was loyal, and in 1791 she entertained 
Washington here, and then sold the property to the present owner’s 
family. 

One of the most beautiful examples in this country of a Georgian 






The stairway at Stenton. 


Photo by Charles R. Pancoast 



Courtesy of the Penna . Society of Colonial Dames of America 

Stenton, a beautiful example of its period. 





















«e » 








The “ Flag House,” Philadelphia, home of Betsey Ross, and here she is said to have 

made the first American flag. 





































New Jersey and Pennsylvania 


385 


house is Hope Lodge, almost opposite Fortside Inn, and built between 
1721 and 1723 as a manor house on his estate of 500 acres, by Samuel 
Morris, a Friend. To it he hoped to bring his bride, but she did not 
marry him after all, and he died a bachelor. 

All of the beautiful interior paneling and other woodwork, with the 
bricks for the front of the house were imported from England. Enter¬ 
ing the wide hall extending through the house, one is impressed by the 
size of the rooms, their high ceilings, and general air of spaciousness. 
The fireplaces are six feet broad, two with blue marble facings, and 
four others with the original blue and white Delft tiles. Here, too, are 
many old HL hinges. 

The house stands on a terrace, and behind the main portion is a lower 
two-storied ell, which used to be known as the cook house, for in 
Pennsylvania, as in the southern states, at the time when this was 
built, it was not customary to have cooking done in the actual house. 
The rooms in the upper story of this ell were for the servants, leaving 
the main part of the mansion for the family exclusively. 

Samuel Morris was taken suddenly ill here at three o’clock one 
morning in 17 70, and instructed those with him at the time to bring 
him his will. In their excitement, they failed to find it, so he gave verbal 
instructions to his physician, and to Peter Adam, keeper of the old inn 
at the nearby crossroads, as to its substance, and what he wished done. 
After his death, upon their testimony before Benjamin Chew, then 
Registrar for the Crown, the unsigned will, which later had been found, 
was accepted and probated, a rare legal occurrence. 

The brother of Samuel Morris inherited Hope Lodge, and it then 
passed to William West, who owned it at the time that General Wash¬ 
ington and his army occupied the surrounding hills, and fortified one 
on the adjacent farm, Fort Hill. It has been said that West was a Loyal¬ 
ist, but his descendants treasure a letter from Washington to the 
master of the house, stating that his soldiers had orders not to destroy 
Mr. West’s timber. One of Washington’s officers, Alexander Anderson, 
married Mr. West’s niece Susanna. 

While occupying this part of Pennsylvania, Washington made the 



386 (${ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


attack on the British which resulted in the Battle of Germantown, a 
defeat for the American troops. The Manor house was then used as a 
hospital for the American wounded. It is here, too, that Washington 
received the information from Lydia Darragh of the surprise attack 
which the British.were planning, and in consequence of this news there 
was no surprise. 

After Mr. West, the property passed to James Horatio Walmough, 
and at this time first received the name of Hope Lodge, because of the 
reconciliation of the owner to Henry Hope. It then passed to the Wentz 
family, who owned it for ninety years, and then to the present owner, 
Mr. William L. Deyn. 

In Carlisle is the Watts house, on Hanover Street, built by Colonel 
Ephraim Blaine, great-grandfather of James G. Blaine, an officer of 
distinction, and Commissary General of the northern department of the 
army during the last four years of the Revolution. Landscape paper 
on the walls displayed scenes from Paul and Virginia. The house is 
still used as a dwelling, altered to install an ice cream parlor, but the 
rooms used as his law offices by Judge R. M. Henderson, one of the 
residents after Colonel Blaine, are now storerooms. 

In early days, Carlisle assemblies were quite noted. Only men sub¬ 
scribed, $8 for eight evenings, and then invited the ladies. The Marquis 
de Chastellux recounts that on one occasion, when a young lady was 
chatting with a friend, and forgot her turn in the square dance then in 
progress, the manager of ceremonies thus addressed her: 

“ Give over, Miss, take care what you are about. Do you think that 
you are here for your pleasure? ” 



Chapter XVI 

Homes of the Pioneers ^5 


Into Kentucky, then part of the great state of Virginia, at an early 
date there journeyed from the more settled, civilized eastern portions, 
those seeking adventures, or anxious for pioneer life. Pioneers were en¬ 
couraged by Virginia, desirous of having a settled country on her 
western boundaries, as protection from Indian attacks, and as early as 
1705, she passed an act encouraging settlements west of the Blue Ridge 
Mountains. Before this, Gabriel Arthur, an early explorer in 1674, 
had been taken prisoner by Indians in what is now Kentucky, and wrote 
an account of the country which has only recently come to light. 
Dr. Thomas Walker, mentioned in the Charlottesville section, explored 
the Cumberland Mountains and Gap in 1750, and built a settler’s 
cabin near what is now Barbourville, Kentucky. 

Among early explorers and settlers was Colonel James Harrod, 
who, with a party, journeyed in canoes down the Monongahela and 
Ohio rivers to the mouth of the Kentucky, up that stream to Landing 
Run Creek, then overland to a spring, where they camped, and in 
1774 founded Harrodsburg. Although the site of Louisville was sur¬ 
veyed before this, Harrodsburg claims to be not merely the first, but 
the only colonial settlement in Kentucky, and three years later was 
made county seat of the new Kentucky County, then a part of Vir¬ 
ginia. This settlement was a stockaded fort, within its enclosing walls 
the cabins of the early settlers, all near the spring which later became 
historic, when Fort Harrod was attacked by Indians. Fort Harrod is 
further interesting because here George Rogers Clark planned his 

387 



388 Historic Houses of Early America 


journey into the Northwest, and Daniel Boone helped survey the town, 
the cave where he spent the winter of 1774-5 is still shown. Although 
no old cabin of the first settlement survives, it is hoped before long to 
reproduce the fort and cabins as a national monument. 

Twenty miles from Harrodsburg, on a farm in Washington County, 
close to Beech Fort Creek, there stood at an early date a log cabin 
which has become of national interest, and is still standing. In this cabin, 
on June 10th, 1806, were married the parents of Abraham Lincoln, and 
in it for several years the young people lived. In 1910, the cabin became 
the property of the Harrodsburg Historical Society, has been carefully 
taken down, removed to that town, and set up in the Kentucky State 
Pioneer Memorial Park, on Old Fort Harrod Hill, and on land given 
by its owner, Miss Irene Moore. Visitors may now see and enter this 
primitive home. 

James Haggin’s ancestors were pioneer settlers, and the Haggin 
race track, the first in Kentucky, existing at least as early as 1784, was 
laid out here. 

Lexington, founded and named for the distinguished old Massa¬ 
chusetts town on the day when news arrived of the victorious encounter 
of American patriots with the British troops, has much of historic in¬ 
terest, and houses with histories, even if younger than some of the 
eastern dwellings. 

It is said that beneath the site of this town there once was an Aztec 
village, and that in 1776, a party of hunters discovered ancient cata¬ 
combs, mounds containing pottery, copper utensils, weapons and orna¬ 
ments which were not Indian relics. In the exciting war times, these 
discoveries were lost. 

A blockhouse was built here in 1779, which has disappeared, but 
a dwelling built before 1787 on Mill Street, Lexington, still stands, 
known as the Thomas Hart house. Colonel Thomas Hart was an early 
and wealthy settler here, and built himself a mansion designed by a 
well-known architect, Benjamin Latrobe. The latter’s own home with 
a rotunda, fine staircase, elaborate carved woodwork, and marble man¬ 
tels, also stands, but re-modeled into an apartment house. In its draw- 



Homes of the Pioneers 


389 


ing room President Monroe, General Jackson and Governor Isaac 
Shelby were elaborately entertained in 1819. 

Isaac Shelby was Kentucky’s first Governor, and when, in 1790, he 
went to Lexington to take office, he rode on horseback from his home, 
Travellers’ Rest, escorted by the infantry company organized the 
preceding year, its members having served against the Indians under 
“ Mad Anthony ” Wayne. 

In the Hart home, Henry Clay was married to Lucretia Hart, and 
in a house nearby, built for them by the bride’s father, the young 
couple lived until, in 1806, Clay purchased Ashland, on the outskirts 
of the town. John Bradford, who, after serving in the Revolutionary 
Army, came to Lexington from his native Fauquier County, Virginia, 
and established the Kentucky Gazette in 1787, died in this Hart house. 
Later, it was the home of the distinguished General John Hunt Mor¬ 
gan. 

Furthermore, the ell of this house is one of the three sites on Mill 
Street in which differing historians have located the Great Commoner’s 
law office, although this is not the site favored by the Clay descendants. 

Another of many interesting houses in this town which should be 
mentioned is that of Robert S. Todd, father of Abraham Lincoln’s 
wife. It stands at 574 West Main Street. Here Mary Todd was living 
just before her marriage, in 1842, to the obscure young lawyer in 
Springfield, Illinois. The couple frequently visited this Lexington 
residence, which remains much as at that time, except that two rooms 
on the corner of the lower floor have been turned into a grocery store. 

A fine old Lexington residence, that of the Gratz family, has 
remained in their ownership for more than a century. 

The Gratzes were distinguished Philadelphians, who came to this 
part of the country about the beginning of the 19th century. Gratz 
Park, Lexington, was formerly part of Benjamin Gratz’s estate. He 
aided in building up Transylvania College, the first college west of the 
Alleghenies. 

The Lexington house was not built by Mr. Gratz. In 1795, Thomas 
January built one on this site for General John McCalla, but this was 



39° 6 % Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


removed or destroyed, and January replaced it by the present building 
in 1806. Mr. Gratz bought it in 1824, and made extensive additions 
and alterations, but save for modern piazzas the house has since been 
little changed. 

What is now a garage was once the old kitchen, said to be the first 
brick building in Lexington, the bricks having come from a house in 
the present Gratz Park, once occupied by John Breckenridge, Attorney 
General under Thomas Jefferson. In the old garden is a bed of cane, 
carefully preserved, part of the old canebrake which originally covered 
the present site of the town. The house has one of the handsomest 
doorways in the state. The hall is sixty feet long, and the cornices, 
carved woodwork and mantels throughout are lovely. Among cher¬ 
ished possessions are a pair of sofas on one of which Lafayette sat when 
he called at this house on the widow of his friend, General Scott, but 
since the two are exactly alike, no one can identify the particular sofa 
thus honored. 

The family originally owned all of the property beneath which 
lies the famous Mammoth Cave, and it was from this that they ob¬ 
tained the nitre used in manufacturing black powder, supplied for 
the Battle of New Orleans. They were great friends with Washington 
Irving, and according to one of the cherished family traditions, this 
author described Miss Rebecca Gratz to Sir Walter Scott, who used 
the description for Rebecca in his Ivanhoe. 

The present house at Ashland is not the one purchased by Henry 
Clay, for soon after his death, the foundations of the original one were 
pronounced unsafe, and it was torn down. His son, however, re-built it 
on the same site, on practically the same plan, and some of the old 
materials were used in its construction. The square, ivy-covered build¬ 
ing with two long, low wings presents the same general aspect, and 
within is much of the original furniture, and many interesting relics of 
Henry Clay. The ivy-bordered walk beneath the pine trees, the slave 
cabins, and some of the catalpa trees which he planted remain as during 
the lifetime of the great owner. Part of the estate is now included in 
Woodland Park. 



6?^ Homes of the Pioneers ^5 


39 i 


Henry Clay came to Lexington from Virginia in 1797, and at Ash¬ 
land 'he entertained lavishly; it was from Ashland that he went to 
Congress in 1811, and while living here he made his unsuccessful fight 
for the Presidency, his third and last defeat being due, it is said, to the 
personal animosity and great popularity of General Jackson. While 
living at Ashland, in spite of his disapproval of the practise, Clay 
fought three duels. 

He loved his estate, took an active interest in agriculture, as well 
as in breeding various kinds of cattle. From Spain he imported asses, 
from Portugal pigs, and cattle and sheep from England. The Ken¬ 
tucky Agricultural Association, founded in 1814, awarded him a silver 
cup for “ the best Saxon ram,” and his horses were noted even in that 
state of fine horses. Many were the distinguished guests entertained 
here; President Monroe, the Governors of various states, Lafayette 
and other eminent foreigners among them. 

After the death of Henry Clay, on the portion of the estate which 
his son John inherited, he laid out one of the first private race courses 
in Kentucky, and made his place famous for its horses. When John 
Clay died, to the surprise of many, in a day when such things were 
practically unheard of for a woman, his widow carried on her husband’s 
affairs successfully, and became one of the first woman horse breeders 
in the country. Day Star and Riley, winners in the Kentucky Derby, and 
Maggie B., mother of Iroquois, winner of the English Derby, are 
some of the horses which made these Ashland stables renowned. 

The house at Ashland was inherited by James Clay, another son, 
and at his death, passed to Kentucky University. It was later purchased 
by Major Henry Clay McDowell, who, in spite of his name, was no kin, 
but married Henry Clay’s granddaughter. Major McDowell is dead, 
and a movement is now on foot, headed by prominent citizens of Lex¬ 
ington, to purchase Ashland, and make it a national monument. 

Three miles from Lexington is Ellerslie, home of Levi Todd, first 
clerk of Fayette County, grandfather of Mary Lincoln. The Todds 
were pioneer settlers, and the original brick house here, built by John 
Todd, Governor of the Territory of Kentucky, still stands, containing 



392 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


a big square hall and rooms, while an addition is of later but not modern 
construction. The exact age of the house could not be learned, but a map 
of Kentucky drawn in 1784 has the name: “ Col. Todd,” and a cross 
to indicate a dwelling. Behind this house is a small stone building in 
which the county records were kept, and it replaces a former one, burned 
in 1803. The present occupants say that in stage-coach days this house 
was a noted inn, the only one between Lexington and Richmond. 

Keeneland Farm, not far from Lexington, is another old place. 
Here, in 1825, Lafayette spent a night before going on to Lexington. 
The bed, its coverings, and the furniture of the room he occupied have 
been treasured by the family ever since. 

Situated on the top of a hill, from which there is a wide view of the 
beautiful Blue Grass Country, and south of Lexington, is the brick 
house known as Chaumiere. Although almost a hundred years old, it 
includes the sole surviving room of an older, more magnificent house. 
The latter, built in the last years of the 18th century by Colonel David 
Meade, was the handsome residence of the first large estate west of the 
Alleghenies. 

Colonel Meade was one of two brothers born in Tidewater Virginia, 
and, as was the custom with wealthy Virginians of the 18th century, 
they were sent to England to be educated. While students at Harrow, 
one of their professors was Dr. Thackeray, grandfather of the eminent 
novelist, and it is said that they served as models for the two leading 
characters in The Virginians. 

When David Meade returned from England, he married, and for a 
time lived in eastern Virginia, later buying land near Lexington, Ken¬ 
tucky. Here he built his house and laid out extensive grounds. The 
gardens were enclosed by a hedge of roses and clipped box; there was 
an artificial lake, in the centre of which was an island, reached by a 
rustic bridge, and on the island was a fountain. Through a thicket of 
plum from lake to house was cut a path, known as “ Birdcage Walk.” 
A troop of slaves was kept busy maintaining the estate in the fine order 
upon which Meade insisted. 

A grove of sugar maples surrounded the house, and a few of these 




* 


The McClure Studio 


























Chaumiere, near Lexington, Kentucky. One room of the original house, which was a 
remarkably fine residence in early Kentucky days, is standing; the one-storied wing 

shown above. 



Photo £y Shores 

The Harrison house, built in pioneer days, Vincennes, Indiana. Here General Harrison 
met and signed a treaty with the Indians. 









6^ Homes of the Pioneers ^5 


393 


trees survive. So does the lake, although reduced in size, and also the 
cave which always interested early visitors. 

Here Meade entertained lavishly, and from the first it was one of 
the show places of the country. Meade even affected annoyance if guests 
notified him in advance of their arrival, and it was not unusual for 
eighteen to sit down to table. Four Presidents, Thomas Jefferson, James 
Monroe, Andrew Jackson and Zachary Taylor were guests here; Aaron 
Burr and his ally or dupe, Blennerhasset, attended the wedding of 
Colonel Meade’s daughter, and a descendant of the Colonel still treas¬ 
ures the mirror which Burr used while dressing his hair. He and Meade 
are said to have been school fellows. Henry Clay was also an intimate 
friend. 

The original house, the u cluster of rustic cottages,” or as others 
styled it, “ the thatched cottage on the prairie,” was a rambling struc¬ 
ture, built of different kinds of materials, but any outward deficiencies 
were more than made up for by the gardens with their statuary, and the 
magnificence of the interior. The drawing room, the only part of the 
old house which survives, octagonal in shape, had a high, domed ceiling 
lofty windows, and fine walnut paneling. Once four gilt framed mirrors 
hung between the windows, and the curtains were of purple brocade. 
On both sides of the entrance to the drawing room were small, triangu¬ 
lar powder closets. 

After Colonel Meade died, his slaves used to insist that they often 
saw “ Ole Marster ” come up the lawn, and enter the house at five 
o’clock of an afternoon, the hour for serving tea. 

The Colonel and his wife rest in a small burial ground on the estate, 
but their death marked the beginning of Chaumiere’s decadence. The 
property was sold to someone unable to appreciate its beauty, and 
he cut down many of the fine old trees, destroyed or removed much of 
the house, and even turned his hogs loose on the beautiful old lawn. 

Later, the property again changed hands, and the new owner built 
the present substantial house beside the fragment of the old one re¬ 
maining. Much of the fine old furniture is cherished elsewhere by 
Colonel Meade’s descendants. 



394 Historic Houses of Early America 


Cynthiana, one of Kentucky’s oldest towns, has been in existence 
since 1793. Robert Harrison, a landowner in this section, gave the town 
site, and it was named after his two daughters, Cynthia and Anna, the 
county being named for him, Harrison. 

Cynthiana’s first court house was older than the town. A log cabin 
built in 1790, used as a residence, court house, law office, printing office, 
it was standing at least in 1925, behind the present fairly old but sub¬ 
stantial court house. 

In the old low, two-story log building, in 1806, Henry Clay held 
court, and many celebrated lawyers prosecuted or defended cases. 

Nashville, Tennessee, cherishes the home of Andrew Jackson, now 
owned by the Hermitage Association, under a charter taken out in 1889. 

The first house on the estate which Jackson acquired here was built 
in 1804 of logs, and a year later Aaron Burr was entertained in it. To 
this Jackson returned after the Battle of New Orleans, but four years 
later he built on the present site, not far from the log house, one of 
bricks made on the place, and it was in the new home that Lafayette was 
entertained in 1825. Nine years later, it burned to the ground, but 
was re-built on the same foundations, and even some of the old walls 
used. This is the house now owned by the Ladies’ Hermitage Associa¬ 
tion, and preserved by them as a national monument. The General’s 
adopted son, his wife’s nephew, Andrew Jackson, Junior, succeeded to 
the estate, and his son, Andrew III., a colonel in the Confederate Army, 
was the last of the name to occupy the house. 

It is of brick, in colonial style, with broad verandas at front and 
back, supported by pillars extending to the roof, and with a low wing 
on either end. A wide hall runs through the centre, from which open 
large, high-ceiled rooms. 

On the walls of the hall may still be seen the paper ordered by Gen¬ 
eral Jackson from Paris, when the house was re-built in 1835. This 
paper represents the story of the travels of Telemachus. Several old 
family portraits, including one of the first great owner, by Earl, hang 
on the walls, and Jackson’s umbrella stand and hatrack are in their old 
places. 



6?^ Homes of the Pioneers ^5 


395 


In the front drawing room is another portrait by Earl, showing 
Jackson on his horse, Sam Patch, while in the rear parlor are portraits of 
four staff officers, General Coffee, General Bronagh, Colonel Gadsden, 
and Lieutenant Eastland, who were known as u General Jackson’s mili¬ 
tary family.” In this room, too, is preserved a mahogany table, sole 
remnant of a set of furniture presented to General and Mrs. Jackson 
when they visited New Orleans after the battle. 

General Jackson’s bedroom remains as when he died, with the same 
furniture, curtains, drapery and pictures. The room which until Mrs. 
Jackson’s death was the couple’s bedroom has many of its original fur¬ 
nishings. After his beloved wife died, this room was used by their 
adopted son. Here the wall paper is a reproduction, made from a 
small piece of the original, but all of the other papers are the originals. 

The great hall, with its fine winding staircase, is two stories high. 
The library on the lower floor, adjoining General Jackson’s bedroom, 
has five bookcases filled with more than four hundred of the General’s 
books, and the Association has spared no pains in assembling these in¬ 
teresting souvenirs. Then there is the dining room, and the old kitchen 
should not be omitted, for it has been restored to its former state. 

Upstairs, one of the rooms was always known as “ Earl’s room.” 
The painter married a niece of Mrs. Jackson, but she soon died, and he 
then spent much of his time at the Hermitage, with the Jacksons, and 
here he painted a number of portraits of the General, in addition to 
the two already mentioned. Another bedroom is that occupied by La¬ 
fayette, and all over the house are interesting small souvenirs of the 
Jacksons, preserved in glass cases. 

Here at the Hermitage, Mrs. Jackson had a fine flower garden, 
which she tended with loving care. Furthermore, in the old coach house 
may be seen the identical coach used by Jackson at the White House, 
and on several trips from there to the Hermitage. 

When Jackson died, the house was surrounded by a farm of 1200 
acres, and there were a hundred negro slaves, the entire estate being 
estimated at $150,000. When Colonel Andrew Jackson, third of the 
name to live here, moved in 1893, he took with him all of the furnish- 



39^ 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


ings, but the Association has been able to restore a surprising amount of 
them. 

There is a ghost connected with the house, for two ladies who spent 
the night here to investigate the story for themselves, reported the 
sounds as of dishes falling down, chains clanking, and a a war horse 
tread.” 

General Jackson, his wife, their adopted son and his wife, with other 
members of the family, and their friend Earl are buried in the private 
plot on the grounds of the Hermitage. 

The Francis Vigo Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revo¬ 
lution owns the house in Vincennes, Indiana, which was occupied by 
Governor William Henry Harrison, and where, in 1810, councils with 
Tecumseh, the Indian chief, and several hundred of his braves, were 
held. 

Local tradition says that a family by the name of Thompson came 
here in 1803, established a brick kiln, and that their first order came 
from Harrison. The deed given them in payment for the bricks is still 
in existence. Probably the house which cost $26,000, was the first to be 
built of bricks in this section. Glass for the first windows was imported 
from England, carried from the east to the mouth of the Ohio River 
on the backs of horses, then by boat to what is now Evansville, and 
thence up the Wabash to Vincennes. 

The basement walls of the house are two feet thick, the upper ones 
eighteen inches. Doors, stairs, and other interior woodwork are of black 
walnut, hand carved. In the cellar is the entrance to a tunnel leading to 
the Wabash River, six hundred feet away, the tunnel designed to serve 
as a refuge or means of escape from Indians, should occasion arise. In 
the basement are the large kitchen, with big open fireplace, store rooms 
for arms and ammunition, and four bedrooms for servants. Upstairs on 
the main floor are the dining and other rooms, among them the great 
apartment used for councils, and for early meetings of the Legislature. 
In this, one year after the house was built, the Reverend Thomas Clel- 
land preached the first Presbyterian sermon ever delivered in what is 
now the State of Indiana. 




($${ Homes of the Pioneers 


397 


Here, too, Harrison held the council with Tecumseh and his Indian 
warriors. The story goes that at one point in the discussion, the Indian 
chief became so angry that he rose from his seat threateningly, where¬ 
upon his braves did the same. Harrison, standing alone, calmly drew his 
sword, and faced them so determinedly that either intimidated, or in 
admiration of his courage, Tecumseh resumed negotiations, and they 
were peaceably concluded. 

A room in this house was also for a time used as a schoolroom, and 
in one of the inner shutters may still be seen the hole from a bullet 
aimed at Harrison, as he walked the floor one night with a sick child. 

The Daughters have filled the house with articles of the period of 
its erection, a few pieces of furniture, including his desk, having been 
used by the illustrious first owner. One room is further set apart in 
honor of Francis Vigo, and contains his bed. The memorial tablet near 
the house is inscribed to this “ Patriot whose devotion to the cause of 
American liberty made possible the capture of Fort Sackville, Feb. 25, 
1776,” and who died in Vincennes. 









Chapter XVII 

Caesar Rodney, the Rider ^§5 


T raveling in Delaware, one will hear the names: Broadkill Hun¬ 
dred, Indian River Hundred, etc. Into thirty-three hundreds her three 
counties are divided, an old term dating, it is said, from the time of 
Alfred the Great, and Delaware alone of the States has kept it. But 
Delaware’s earliest settlements were made by Swedes and Dutch, and 
the English did not obtain possession of the territory until 1664, not¬ 
withstanding that the State is named for Lord De La Ware, Governor 
of Virginia, who, in 1610, explored Delaware Bay. Of her three coun¬ 
ties, only one, New Castle, bears the original name, the other two, Kent 
and Sussex, having formerly been known as St. Jones, and Hoorne Kill, 
or Deale. 

Wilmington, a natural first stop in entering the State from the 
north, is by no means the oldest town, nor does it contain the most in¬ 
teresting old houses, but one prominent object, the equestrian statue in 
front of the Du Pont Hotel, commemorates one of Delaware’s dis¬ 
tinguished sons whose exploit is less well-known than it deserves. This 
is Caesar Rodney, hero of a ride which, if not so important as Revere’s, 
yet had importance, and was made under a serious physical handicap. 

Caesar Rodney lived at Poplar Grove, St. John’s Neck, Kent 
County, Delaware. His grandfather, William Rodney, came to this 
country with William Penn, in 1682. He was of an honorable family 
in Bristol, England, and took an active part in organizing the govern¬ 
ment in his new home. His son William, Caesar’s father, was chosen 
in 1701 Speaker of the Assembly organized by the Delaware counties, 

398 



Caesar Rodney, the Rider 


399 


then part of Pennsylvania. This William’s mother was Alice, daughter 
of Sir Thomas Caesar, so when he married, to his youngest son he gave 
the family name of Caesar. Although he left eight children, it was to 
Caesar that his estate finally came. Denbigh, in Sussex County, was part 
of this second William’s holdings. It was sold to Benjamin Chew, then 
to Vincent Loockerman, who sold it to the Bradfords, and they finally 
sold it out of their family in 1852. 

Left an orphan at seventeen, Caesar chose for his guardian Wil¬ 
liam Ridgely of Dover, and with this family and town his history was 
then closely connected. Mr. Ridgely saw to it that his ward received a 
classical education, was taught dancing, fencing, and all the accomplish¬ 
ments suited to a gentleman of that day. Caesar Rodney has been de¬ 
scribed by his contemporaries as vivacious, active and brave. About five 
feet ten inches in height, one of them remarks: “ his person was very 
elegant and genteel, his manners graceful, easy and polite. He had a 
good fund of humor, and the happiest talent in the world of making 
his wit agreeable, however sparkling and severe.” 

While a minor, he made his home with his guardian at Eden Hill 
Farm, the Ridgely home, situated about a mile from Dover, and still 
owned by the Ridgely family. 

At thirty, Caesar was Sheriff of Kent County, then a prized office j 
became Justice of the Peace, Judge of the “ lower counties,” as what 
are now Delaware’s counties were then called, member of the Assembly, 
and in 1762, when only thirty-four years old, was chosen by the Assem¬ 
bly, together with his close friend and associate, Thomas McKean, to 
revise and print the laws of Delaware. In 1765, he attended the Stamp 
Act Congress in New York City, where met delegates from nine states, 
four sending their written agreements to whatever the others should 
decide. 

He served with distinction in the Continental Army, was made a 
Brigadier General of the Delaware militia, and later Washington ap¬ 
pointed him a Major General. During the early days of the Revolution, 
Rodney wrote daily to Haslet, urging him to enlist troops, and when 
the Declaration of Independence was passed, sent a mounted messenger 



400 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


to him with the news. John Haslet, who is buried in the old Presbyterian 
churchyard at Dover, was killed at Princeton. 

In 1774, Rodney, McKean and George Read, the latter two men of 
New Castle, were chosen deputies to the Continental Congress. Four 
years later came the famous ride. 

Caesar Rodney, leaving the Convention in Philadelphia, had gone 
to Lewes, Delaware, because of reports of Tory activities in that neigh¬ 
borhood. The story goes that in Lewes he became infatuated with beau¬ 
tiful young Sarah Rowland, daughter of the postmaster, and an ardent 
Tory, although either Rodney did not know this, or fancied that she 
could do no harm to him or the patriot cause. He underestimated the 
young lady’s ability. The time for ratifying the articles of Confederacy 
then before the Convention drew near. Without Rodney, Delaware’s 
vote was tied, since Read, although no less patriotic than the others, be¬ 
lieved the adoption of these articles premature. McKean wrote urgently 
to Rodney to return, and sent letters to him by a sailing packet bound 
for Lewes. Sarah Rowland intercepted the letters, and Delaware’s rati¬ 
fication would have been withheld, and the patriot cause seriously ham¬ 
pered, had it not been for her patriotic maid. She told Rodney of the 
trick, and without delay, he set out for Philadelphia, eighty miles away, 
on horseback. This was on the evening of July 2nd, and the vote on 
ratification was to be taken by Congress on the 4th. 

He succeeded in reaching Philadelphia in time to cast his vote with 
McKean, thus insuring Delaware’s ratification. There are few details of 
this story obtainable. Some historians do not even mention it, but the 
Colonial Dames of Delaware give a longer account than others in a 
pamphlet issued by their society. 

At the time that he took this ride, in fierce summer heat, Rodney 
was already suffering from the dreadful malady which later killed him, 
cancer of the nose, and it is said that he rode with his face swathed in 
bandages. In 1778, and for three years afterwards, he was President 
or, as it would now be called, Governor of Delaware, and in 1782 was 
re-elected to Congress, but owing to his illness did not take his seat. 
Two years later, after submitting to several operations, he died, and is 



Caesar Rodney, the Rider 


401 


buried in old Christ Church graveyard, Dover, where a plain granite 
monument, with only his name inscribed, now marks the spot. 

When elected President of Delaware, he took a house at 606 
Market Street, Wilmington, the site of which is now included in that of 
a department store. His cousin, beautiful Mary Vining, presided with 
grace over the household, for Rodney never married. Here many prom¬ 
inent persons were entertained, and in its cellar, Lafayette hid the little 
casks of gold which he used in paying his men. 

Mary Vining, a famous beauty and belle of Revolutionary days, 
was wooed by many suitors. She and “ Mad Anthony ” Wayne fell in 
love with each other although, or because, they were of very opposed 
types, became engaged, and their wedding day was near when he was 
killed. She never recovered from his death, withdrew almost entirely 
from society, and would not hear of marrying. It is told that she could 
never bring herself to use a set of china which Wayne had given her 
for their future home. Through some inexplicable act of vandalism, 
more than fifty years ago, many of the tombstones of the Vining family 
were stolen from the churchyard, pounded to fragments, and used in 
making mortar. 

Mary Vining later lived at The Willows, on Brandywine Walk, 
Wilmington, and one is free to select a site for her home along the 
present charming Brandywine Drive, while doubtless its gardens sloped 
gently down to the pretty stream, whose banks are now for some distance 
a park. She must have been not only a beauty but a clever and interest¬ 
ing woman as well, for Lafayette corresponded with her for a third of 
a centuryj Marie Antoinette had heard so much about her that she ex¬ 
pressed a wish to see her at the Tuileries, and the Duke de Liancourt 
and Louis Philippe were among her distinguished visitors. She is buried 
in Old Swedes’ churchyard, Wilmington, her grave unmarked. 

After her death, her nephew, Henry Ridgely, took charge of all 
her papers, and for safe keeping stored them in the attic of his aunt, 
Mrs. Ogden’s house. The house burned to the ground, and all were 
destroyed, including a manuscript history written by Mary Vining. 

Cool Springs, an estate near Wilmington, was the country seat of 



402 


Historic Houses of Early America ^9 


Rodney’s nephew and namesake. This second Caesar Rodney was the 
last of six Attorneys General in Jefferson’s cabinet, was sent to Argen¬ 
tina as our minister, and died there, his illness being indirectly caused, 
it was reported, by the abominable treatment of the captain on whose 
ship he made the voyage. 

In Dover, on the Green, there stands a three-story brick house which 
at one time was owned by Caesar Rodney, although it is believed that 
he never lived in it, merely held it for three days and then sold it, hav¬ 
ing taken it in exchange for other property. Outside of Dover, at Bye- 
field, standing on a tract of 900 acres, is the house which Caesar Rodney 
the rider inherited from his father, and to which he returned after mak¬ 
ing his ride. Those now visiting the place will be disappointed, for al¬ 
though part of the house, originally a long, low building with dormer 
windows, remains, the dormer windows have disappeared, replaced by 
a full story with ordinary ones, and the beautiful old staircase has been 
removed as well, either sold, or because it was too dilapidated. 

Other Rodney relatives buried in old St. Peter’s churchyard, Lewes, 
include two governors of Delaware, Daniel and Caleb, and John, a 
Judge under the Colonial government, member of the Council of 
Safety, and Military General of Delaware in 1772. Near the old church 
still stands the home of Governor Daniel Rodney, built about 1766, 
a few years ago and perhaps still occupied by the Mayor of the town. 
It will be seen that the rider was of distinguished and patriotic lineage. 

His brother Thomas left a diary which gives an interesting picture 
of early Delaware days. He says in part: 

“ The manners and customs of the white people when I first re¬ 
member were very simple, plain and social. Very few foreign articles 
were used in this part of the country for eating and drinking and cloth¬ 
ing. Almost every family manufactured their own clothes, and beef, 
pork, poultry, milk, butter and cheese, wheat and Indian corn were 
raised by themselves, and served them with the fruits of the country, 
and wild game for food; and cider, small beer, and peach and apple 
brandy for drink. The best families in the country but seldom used tea, 
coffee, chocolate or sugar, for honey was their sweetening . . . they 



6 ?^ Caesar Rodney, the Rider 


403 


constantly associated together at one house or another to play and frolic, 
at which times the young people would dance, and the elder ones wres¬ 
tle, run, leap, jump, or throw the disc, or play at some rustic and manly 
exercise. This manner of life continued until the war commenced, in 
1755, but this occasioned a sudden and universal change in the country.” 

Returning to Wilmington, the real founder of the town was Wil¬ 
liam Shipley, but it was his wife who inspired him to do so. They were 
both Friends, and Elizabeth was a noted preacher of that denomination. 
One night she dreamed that she was on horseback, traveling through 
the country, and came to a turbulent stream. A guide seemed with her, 
and told her that he was conducting her to “ a new and fruitful land, 
and it is the design of Providence that thou shouldst enter.” Some time 
later she took a long trip to preach, and after traveling eighteen miles, 
came to and recognized the river of her dream. She persuaded her hus¬ 
band to come and settle on its banks in 1730, and the city of Wilming¬ 
ton is the result. Their house at Shipley and 4th Streets, built in 1736, 
stood until about 1880. 

After the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, while stricken with her 
last illness, Elizabeth Shipley suddenly exclaimed that she “ saw in the 
sight of the Lord that the invader of our land shall be driven back,” 
and urged those around her to remain a firm in the faith that this na¬ 
tion will secure its independence.” This made “ a stupendous impres¬ 
sion,” not only because she was a well-known preacher, but also because 
the Quakers have always opposed war. Her words were re-printed in all 
the newspapers devoted to the cause of Liberty, for they were “ a voice 
from the grave ” of “ one who had long been considered an extraor¬ 
dinary person,” while the Tory papers derided them as an attempt on 
the part of the adherents to a losing cause to bolster up their courage. 

For more than a block above Wilmington’s Market Street bridge, 
on the left hand side, a row of fine old square stone houses has sur¬ 
vived. The second house above 18 th Street is the old Tatnall house, 
built in 1770 by Joseph Tatnall, who owned the first flour mills here on 
the Brandywine. A third story has replaced the old attic, and a large 
addition has been built on in the rear, but otherwise the house is not 



404 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


greatly changed outwardly. This was Anthony Wayne’s headquarters 
at one time, and here Washington came daily to confer with him and 
with Lafayette and other officers before the Battle of Brandywine. 
After that, it was occupied by British officers. Almost opposite is a still 
older surviving house, the usual two story and attic building of its 
period, with a solitary front dormer window in the attic, but this is now 
a gas filling station. 

Thomas West’s house on the corner of 5th and West Streets has 
been torn down, but a tablet high up on the present building on its site 
commemorates it. West was a distant relative of Lord De La Warre or 
Ware, whose name was also Thomas West. He was furthermore the 
uncle of Benjamin West, the artist. The youngest son of this Thomas, 
Joseph, owned one of the first tanneries in Wilmington. The family 
were Friends. 

Tusculum, a fine old square brick house, not beautiful but comfort¬ 
able, survives, but is the contagious disease department of the hospital. 
Set high in the midst of still extensive grounds, at the corner of Chest¬ 
nut and Broome Streets, it was built by James Broome about the begin¬ 
ning of the 19th century. Early in that century Mr. Broome’s father- 
in-law, Dr. Thomas Read, and his wife made their home with the 
Broomes, and here Lafayette was entertained. 

At the time of the Battle of Brandywine, Dr. Read was pastor of 
the old Drawyers Presbyterian church, just outside of Odessa. Wash¬ 
ington was encamped near Stanton, six miles below Wilmington. He 
knew that the British were near, but was unfamiliar with the country. 
One of his officers told him that he knew a man who was thoroughly 
acquainted with it, and Washington directed him to go in search of him. 
The officer rode to Read’s parsonage, and arrived there at midnight. 
He roused the parson, and in ten minutes the latter was dressed, his 
horse saddled, and the two set out for the camp, riding over bad roads 
at such a pace that they reached the camp in half an hour. Read was 
taken at once to Washington’s tent, and there so thoroughly mapped 
out and described the country that the information was invaluable to 
the commander in the ensuing battle and retreat. 



6 % Caesar Rodney, the Rider 


405 


New Castle across the river, and six miles south of Wilmington, is 
one of the oldest towns in America. On the way here one may pass 
the house once occupied by the Jacquette family, in which Washington 
and Lafayette were entertained, but it has been modernized and is 
not now interesting. It stands on the tract owned by Jean Paul 
Jacquette or Johan Paul Jacquet, whichever spelling is preferred, the 
first Governor of Delaware under the Dutch, and here he lived in 
1684. 

New Castle was settled by the Swedes in 1638, and has been known 
by at least eight different names from the first, Quinnimacook, to the 
present, given it by Sir Robert Carr, when, in 1644 the British won it 
from the Dutch. Even the modern railroad does not detract from New 
Castle’s quaint old world appearance, for the station is distant from the 
heart of the town, the old Green, given by Peter Stuyvesant. Many of 
the old buildings around the Green remain, yet it was the terminus of 
one of the first railroads in the country, the New Castle and French- 
town. In 1682, William Penn was given a grant which included New 
Castle and land within a twelve mile radius. 

There are many interesting old houses here, and the visitor is 
tempted to linger admiringly almost at every turn. The oldest house 
in New Castle, built about 1665, stands as the wing to a larger one. The 
old portion is a typical Dutch cottage, a story and a half high, with one 
window on each side of the broad old door, and a steep roof above. 
Oldest of the most interesting group is the Amstel House, a modern 
name for a residence built before 1730, since in that year it was adver¬ 
tised at a sheriff’s sale. The first known occupant was Governor Nicholas 
Van Dyke, and tradition says that Washington was a guest at the wed¬ 
ding of Ann, daughter of the house, to Kensey Johns. Nicholas Van 
Dyke was major of Delaware militia during the Revolution, member 
of the Committee of Correspondence in 1774, a deputy to the Conven¬ 
tion of 1776, and from 1777 to 1783, member of the Continental Con¬ 
gress. He was also Governor of Delaware before it became a State in 
1789, in which year he died. 

This house is a fine example of the colonial period, with paneled 



406 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


walls, beautiful woodwork and staircase, large rooms, and old doors 
with their original HL hinges. Its name, given not many years ago, is 
most appropriate, since New Amstel was one of New Castle’s early 
names. 

Opposite is the house built by Kensey Johns, Junior, son of Ann 
Van Dyke Johns. Although only a bit over a century old, it is interest¬ 
ing not merely as a fine example of an early 19th century residence, but 
also for the family portraits, old furniture and silver contained in it. 
Among the portraits are Gilbert Stuart’s of George Read, and Ben¬ 
jamin West’s of George Ross, both Signers, with others by Sully and 
Alexander. Treasured here is a “ spider ” which belonged to Caesar 
Rodney, and has come down to this family through a cousin of the 
Rider’s. Among some examples of woman’s handiwork is a tiny shirt, 
one of twelve made by the present owner’s grandmother, for Tom 
Thumb, who visited Wilmington as a seventeen year old lad in 1848, 
announcing that he “ had kissed 1,000,000 ladies, and had a few more 
kisses left for Delaware lasses.” At Third and Delaware Streets is the 
square brick house with a long wing, built in 1781 by Chief Justice 
Kensey Johns, who married Ann Van Dyke. It has a fine old staircase, 
mantels, and paneling, while the keyplates and doorknobs are duplicates 
of those in Mt. Vernon. When the house was inherited by a descendant 
of Governor Stockton, she sent one of these doorknobs to replace one 
stolen by some visitor from Washington’s home. 

This house has the great old-fashioned kitchen, with Dutch oven, 
and has recently been sold to a great-great-granddaughter of Governor 
Van Dyke. Her husband, a physician, now uses the old law offices. Wall 
paper made in 1804 in France, with the design of the lily, remained on 
the walls until 1910. 

Opposite Amstel house is one built in 1797 by Senator Nicholas Van 
Dyke, and opposite the first Kensey Johns house is another Van Dyke 
home, with massive old shutters. In the latter, Dorcas Van Dyke was 
married in 1824 to Charles Irenee Du Pont, son of Victor Marie Du 
Pont de Nemours, who came to this country in the French diplomatic 
service. Charles was born in Charleston, South Carolina. This wedding 



6 ?^ Caesar Rodney, the Rider 


407 


was one of the most brilliant social events ever known in New Castle, 
the bride given away by Lafayette, who claimed the privilege of kissing 
her. 

Opposite the Court House, oldest in America, is another very old 
dwelling, built early in the 18th century, and enlarged in 1790 by 
the senior Chief Justice James Booth, when he owned and occupied it. 
Here, too, are beautiful mantels and panels, a fine staircase with 
mahogany rail, and from the upper rear windows there is a charming 
view out over the river. In May, 1927, the house was empty and for 
sale. 

Down on the Strand, laid out with Benjamin Franklin’s aid, is an¬ 
other group of interesting old houses. At the foot of Delaware Street, 
William Penn first landed in America, on October 28th, 1682. At the 
Court House he was presented with “ Turf, Twig, Water and Soyle,” 
as tokens of his proprietorship. On the corner of Delaware and the 
Strand is-a house which, although enlarged and modernized, has a rear 
portion, easily distinguished, built in 1732. To it came the messenger 
with news of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and here his letter was franked 
and sent on south by the occupant, Zachariah Van Leuvenigh. Nearby 
is one of the oldest houses in New Castle. 

Most beautiful of all the houses here is the George Read house, 
with charming gardens extending back to the Green. 

John Read came to this country in its early days, because his English 
fiancee died. He lived in both Maryland and Delaware, and long re¬ 
mained a bachelor, but finally married and had three sons, George, 
James and Thomas. George was the author of the first Delaware Con¬ 
stitution, and for twelve years a member of the Assembly. He came 
to New Castle about 1754, and his house stood on what is now a part of 
the gardens of the later house. Eleven years before the Declaration of 
Independence, he warned the British Government that unless the at¬ 
titude towards the Colonies was changed, these would become inde¬ 
pendent, and eventually would surpass England in her staple manu¬ 
factures. Of his brothers, James, a Colonel, was at the head of the 
American Navy Department during the Revolution, and died in Phila- 



408 Historic Houses of Early America ^9 


delphia, while Thomas was the first Commodore in the American Navy, 
and lived at Bordentown, New Jersey. 

George Read was one of the Signers, even though he hesitated to 
ratify the Articles of Confederacy for Delaware. 

In his New Castle home he entertained Washington and many 
other Revolutionary Generals, but in a disastrous fire which visited New 
Castle in 1824, the house was entirely destroyed. 

The present house here had already been built in 1801, by his son 
George. In 1844, the fourth George Read sold it to William Couper, 
and the beautiful garden dates from him. Here is a “ Captain’s 
walk,” and above the front door, with its fan- and side-lights, a Palla- 
dian window is admirable. Doorknobs within are of silver, and the 
woodwork is very handsome. Drawing room and library are separated 
by a doorway with beautiful fanlight above, while the carving in the 
former apartment is supplemented by delicate ornamentations in Lon¬ 
don putty, showing a man at arms, in a chariot drawn by lions, classic 
figures, arabesques, etc. Across from the drawing room is the dining 
room, its walls covered with paintings showing old New Castle, the 
landing of Penn, the old Court House, first Read house, etc. 

The house is filled with choice furniture and ornaments, among 
others a curious water clock, made in 1685. 

Acrelius, an early Swedish pastor, amused himself by cataloguing 
popular Delaware beverages, and among them are Madeira, punch, 
home brewed cherry and currant wines; the punch, chiefly drunk be¬ 
fore dinner, was called a “ meridian.” Then there was “ Manatham,” 
made of small beer, rum and sugar, like the New England flip, while 
hot rum punch was always served at funerals. 

Edmund Cantwell, Sheriff of New Castle County under William 
Penn, built himself a house three miles from what is now Odessa, which 
was standing at least recently. In 1731, Richard Cantwell was granted 
permission to establish a toll bridge here. The land had originally been 
patented to Abraham Coffin, in 1671, but was re-surveyed in 1686 to 
Jonathan De Haes and Ephraim Herman. De Haes was a member of 
the first Legislature, in 1683, under Penn. Part of this tract afterwards 



Caesar Rodney, the Rider 


409 


came to Thomas Noxon, and on these fields Caesar Rodney camped 
with his Delaware militia, while General Howe marched to the Brandy¬ 
wine on a road to Middletown. Thomas Noxon was a member of old 
St. Anne’s church near Middletown. 

Adjoining Richard Cantwell’s land was a tract owned by William 
Corbit, descendant of a Scotch Quaker, who started an early tannery. 
Another Corbit, Daniel, occupied a fine old brick house still standing 
in Odessa, and his daughter married David Wilson in 1769, who built 
a house for her next door to her father’s in that same year. It was left 
in 1847, by a descendant, Mrs. Mary Corbit Warner, with a sufficient 
endowment to maintain it, to the town for a library and museum. 

The house is finely paneled throughout, and has one of the beauti¬ 
ful staircases usual in handsome dwellings of its period. The main por¬ 
tion consists of but one room on each side of the hall on the two floors, 
but there is an ell containing a dining room, kitchen, and bedrooms. The 
library is on the first floor; above is a room furnished as an old time 
bedroom, and opposite is the museum, with collections and relics of 
former days. 

Not far from Odessa, the old home of Commodore McDonough, 
distinguished in the War of 1812, was formerly the home of Kirkwood, 
who fought in thirty-two battles of the Revolution, enlisting under 
Rodney’s friend, Haslet, in the first year of that war. At the end of it, 
Kirkwood was a major, removed to Ohio, and was killed in the Battle 
of Miami in 1791. 

Closely connected with Delaware history from its early days is the 
name of Ridgely. The first to come to this country was Henry, from 
Devonshire, England. He settled in Annapolis in 1659, was a colonel 
of militia, one of the commissioners appointed to survey and oversee the 
building of the Annapolis court house, and member of the Assembly 
and Council. His son Henry died when but thirty years old, leaving 
several children. Nicholas, third of these, came to Delaware in 1732, 
and lived first at Duck Creek, then removed to Dover. He was Treas¬ 
urer of Kent County, and Judge of Delaware’s Supreme Court. 

A mile outside of Dover, reached by a long, grassy avenue, is Eden 



4io Historic Houses of Early America 


Hill Farm, where he lived. Of brick, painted white, two stories high, 
with a long, low wing, it is in excellent condition, occupied by the tenant 
who farms the land. There is a large old Dutch porch in the rear; 
massive old shutters with hand wrought latches, and doors with hand 
wrought hinges may be admired. 

This is the house mentioned as for a time the home of Caesar 
Rodney. 

Nicholas Ridgely’s son Charles studied medicine, and for him his 
father bought the house occupied ever since by Ridgelys, in Dover. It 
faces the old Green, laid out in 1717 by William Penn’s orders, at 
which time the town consisted of some three hundred persons. On this 
Green markets and fairs were held; here the Declaration of Independ¬ 
ence was read, the Revolutionary soldiers formed to march away, as 
later did those in the last war. A tablet on the Green to the memory of 
the earlier patriots mentions that but few ever returned. 

What has always been known as the Ridgely house since the first 
of the family came to occupy it in 1760, is the oldest house now stand¬ 
ing on the Green, and was built in 1728. Outwardly, save for a new 
addition in the rear, it is practically unchanged, and the interior has 
been carefully treated. 

The old office used by Dr. Charles has since been the law office of 
several Ridgelys, was for a short time used by John M. Clayton, who 
from 1824 to 1842 lived in a fine old house on the other side of the 
Green, and by Chief Justice Comegys, a connection of the Ridgely 
family. The Clayton house, built in 1730, and shortly after its erection 
the home of Samuel Chew, was torn down to build a wing of the State 
House, its old garden destroyed. 

Charles Ridgely was a member of state assemblies, and of the Con¬ 
stitutional Convention in Delaware, in 1776. His father married three 
times, and Charles was the son of the first wife, Mary Wynkoop. The 
second wife, Mary Vining, was a widow, daughter of Judge Hugh 
Middleton, of Salem, New Jersey. Her first husband, Captain Benjamin 
Vining, on his deathbed said to her: 

“ I know that you will marry again, but will you promise me to 



Caesar Rodney, the Rider 


411 


make over to our children all of your estate which you have in¬ 
herited from your father? ” She gave the promise, married Nicholas 
Ridgely, but none of her own property descended to her Ridgely 
children. 

Her second son by her first marriage, John, married her step¬ 
daughter, Rachel Ridgely, and it was their daughter Mary, beauty and 
belle, who loved Anthony Wayne, and remained ever true to his 
memory. The first Mary Vining’s daughter, Mary, married the Rev¬ 
erend Charles Inglis, rector of Christ Church, Dover, and later of Old 
Trinity, New York. Inglis, a Tory, was a man of spirit, for when threat¬ 
ened by American soldiers should he persist in praying for King George, 
he boldly faced them the following Sunday, in spite of the bayonets 
they carried and made the prayer as usual. His property was confiscated, 
and he was obliged to leave the country, later becoming the first Colo¬ 
nial Bishop of Nova Scotia, and marrying a New York woman. His 
first wife had no children. 

Charles Ridgely married twice. Of his sons by his first wife, Dr. 
Abraham was Secretary of State, Charles died young, and Nicholas be¬ 
came known as the “ Father of Chancery,” Chancellor of Delaware. 
The second wife’s son, Henry, studied law, was President of the Farm¬ 
ers’ Bank, Dover, from the time of its incorporation, and for forty 
yearsj a Representative in Congress for his State, and twice Secretary 
of the State. He also married twice j Sarah Banning, by whom he had 
fifteen children, and Sarah, daughter of Governor Cornelius Comegys, 
but they had none. 

He was severely wounded in a duel which was practically forced 
upon him. Mr. Barrett, of Dover, had been insulted by a man from 
Wilmington, named Shields. Barrett asked Mr. Ridgely to act as his 
second, and take a challenge to Shields. The latter then refused to meet 
Barrett, but challenged Ridgely. 

This Henry Moore Ridgely’s daughter, Ann, married Charles Du 
Pont, of Wilmington, Delaware, and now treasures in her possession 
the pearl pin, always worn by a Ridgely bride, down to the most recent 
one, who was the twenty-fifth so to wear it. 



412 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


Charles Ridgely’s second wife’s family deserves mention, for it was 
noted on both sides. Her father was William Moore, of Moore Hall, 
which he built on the estate given him by his father, who came to Penn¬ 
sylvania from South Carolina. Near Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, this 
house is still standing, but has long since passed out of the family. 

Moore was a Tory, but would not take up arms against his fellow 
countrymen. While Washington was at Valley Forge, a number of Con¬ 
tinental officers were quartered here, and courteously treated, but any 
mention of the right of the Colonies to revolt was liable to bring on 
violent arguments, and almost drive the old Judge into a stroke of 
apoplexy. 

One day when Moore was laid up with an attack of gout, some 
American soldiers visited Moore Hall for plunder. Among other things 
which they seized under the helpless owner’s eyes was a fine sword, with 
beautifully jeweled hilt. Controlling himself, and it must have been 
with a great effort, Mr. Moore requested permission to hold this treas¬ 
ured sword for the last time. The soldier unsuspectingly surrendered 
it, whereupon the old gentleman broke from its hilt the blade, and 
throwing this at the feet of the astonished man, while retaining the hilt, 
cried out: 

“ There, take that if you want to fight for it, but you shall not rob 
me of my plate! ” 

His wife was Lady Wiliamina Wemyss, who, with her brother 
James, came to America, driven from Scotland when the Pretender’s 
cause was lost, because their father had espoused it. 

Henry Moore Ridgely’s first wife, Sarah Banning, also came of a 
distinguished family, but on the patriot side. Her father married Eliza¬ 
beth Alford, who had a curious story connected with her family. Her 
grandmother was almost buried alive. Had it not been that, one daugh¬ 
ter being absent from home in another state, they waited for her return 
to hold the funeral, she might really have been buried. But fortunately 
for her, when the undertaker came to make the final arrangements, 
she showed signs of life, and regained consciousness. After that, on 
each anniversary of her supposed death, and she lived for a number of 



6 ?^ Caesar Rodney, the Rider 


413 


years, Mrs. Alford used to take her children to the churchyard, and 
there among the tombstones, the hapless children were made to eat their 
supper, while the mother discoursed on death and immortality. 

John Banning gave liberally to the patriot cause, and at the close of 
the war, stood on the steps of the old Dover Academy, and offered 
sound currency to the soldiers in exchange for their depreciated paper 
notes. 

One more anecdote of the family must be told. When Chancellor 
Nicholas Ridgely was living in the old Dover house, shortly before his 
death, he entertained there the well known abolitionist, Lucretia Mott. 
The announcement of her coming to the town had called forth ugly 
threats of what would be done to her should she persist in coming. 
Chancellor Ridgely, who was not at all in harmony with her views, 
then promptly invited her to stay in his home. When remonstrated 
with, he replied that it was not because he “ liked the abolitionists, but 
I will not see any woman ill-treated in Dover.” 

He chivalrously escorted his guest to the hall in which she was to 
give her lecture, when instead of urging the abolitionist views, she gave 
a graceful lecture on art. Escorted home by her host, they were fol¬ 
lowed by an ugly mob, but the Chancellor refused either to have the 
shutters of the front windows closed, or the front door barred, but 
standing with his back to the fire, in full view of the crowd which had 
assembled outside, he calmly conversed with his guest until the crowd 
dispersed. 

After this digression, returning to the old house, it stands, close to 
the street, but in the rear is a large garden, which will soon be even 
larger. Next to the old house, on the corner, stood the old Biddle 
Tavern. Later, the Capitol Hotel succeeded it, and not long ago, when 
the property was again for sale, the Ridgelys bought it, tore down the 
old house, and have kept enough land to make an addition to the garden, 
and insure the privacy of their home. 

This is very substantial. The old shutters still shield the windows, 
as in the days when the Chancellor refused to have them closed} within 
are old locks and hinges, Dutch doors give entrance, the one at the rear, 



4 H 


Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


opening into the garden, built of great planks, with a curious hand 
wrought iron latch. 

One enters a square hall, from which the early staircase led, steep 
and narrow. Originally there was a room on either side on both of the 
two floors, but later another room behind each of these was added, with 
hall between, from which a broad new flight of stairs — no longer new 
however — mounts. 

The house is furnished throughout with wonderful old pieces, 
most of them heirlooms in the Ridgely family, a few brought here by 
the present Mrs. Ridgely’s grandfather, who was a Lloyd, related to 
the Wye, Maryland, family, although he settled at Elkton. Here is a 
fine old table which belonged to Commander Jones, of the Wasp, a chair 
which belonged to Penn’s secretary, etc. Here is a portrait of Mary 
Vining, wife of the first Nicholas Ridgely, a fine three-quarter length 
by Peale, with another believed to be of the daughter-in-law, Wilia- 
mina, wife of Dr. Charles. A pair of French vases given to the latter as 
wedding present by General Cadwallader, who married a sister of the 
bride, shows on one, Hector, and the emblems of war, on the other, 
Venus, and emblems of love, which some one has remarked constituted 
a most appropriate wedding gift. Here is Chancellor Ridgely’s wedding 
china, is one of the old glass-doored cupboards beside the fireplace in 
the drawing room, and here, too, is a large facsimile of the signatures 
of those who ratified the Constitution, Nicholas Ridgely’s among them. 

The Court House opposite stands on the site of the old George 
Tavern. Here Thomas McKean’s mounted messenger met Caesar Rod¬ 
ney, on his ride, with urgent request for his return to Philadelphia, and 
from here, after an hour’s rest, Rodney set out again. On the west side 
of the Green, modernized, but the old walls little changed, are the 
house first owned by John Banning, then by Caesar Rodney, and later, 
among others, by the Claytons; the home of John Vining, and his beau¬ 
tiful daughter, Mary; and The Green, built in 1791 by John Fisher, 
and partly re-built by Joseph P. Comegys, Senator from Delaware and 
Chief Justice. He lived here for many years, until his death. 

On State Street, just beyond the Green, stands the house built in 



6^ Caesar Rodney, the Rider ^§5 


415 


1742 by Vincent Loockerman, descended from Govert, who came to 
this country from Holland in 1633, with Van Twiller, and whose sister 
married Olaf Van Cortlandt. 

Oldest is the large square portion, the long wing on the street hav¬ 
ing been added by a later member of the family to give room for his 
five children, since, like other of these fine, large houses, there were 
but three rooms on each of the two floors. 

The original knocker hangs on the original old Dutch door. The 
house is beautifully finished; there are the paneled walls in which are 
set big old fireplaces, and fascinating cupboards} elaborately hand carved 
woodwork framing doors and windows, columns in half relief; great 
spacious, lofty rooms, filled with marvelous old furniture, brought 
by the family from Holland or England, or later imported from 
these countries. Ships brought goods almost to Dover, up a creek to 
what was known as Ship Yards, nearby. The beautiful staircase has 
delicately carved spindles, and of course a mahogany rail. Shutters and 
doors are of broad hand hewn planks, there are great rimlockers, 
latches and hinges. A three-quarter length portrait of the first owner, 
dressed all in scarlet, hangs in the lovely old drawing room, looking 
out upon the beautiful garden, where are many varieties of trees, in¬ 
cluding the rare Irish yew, the tulip poplar, holly, with more familiar 
kinds, and shrubs and flowers in bewildering number. 

One bedroom upstairs must be mentioned, with its fireplace framed 
in beautiful old Dutch tiles, and needless to say, in the old cupboards, 
with their shell tops and curved shelves, are collections of china to 
drive the antique lover wild with envy. 

Another fine old house in Dover on King Street is Woodburne, 
built about 1790. It, too, has an extensive garden in the rear, and fine 
old shade trees. Built of brick, a later owner added brick terraces on 
three sides, and replaced an incongruous bow window by French doors. 
There are but two rooms and a hall on the lower floor, in the main 
portion, a rear wing containing the kitchen and servants’ rooms above, 
but the hall runs across the entire front of the house, is forty-one feet 
long, and proportionately broad, with an old Dutch door opening at 



416 Historic Houses of Early America 


either end on the terraces, while drawing and dining rooms are almost 
twenty-one feet square. On the Dutch doors are huge latches, and very 
long strap hinges, with locks whose keys no one would wish to carry. 
It is said that these keys would not open the doors from outside, and 
served merely to lock them, but in any case, a rear door opening from 
the dining room is provided with a modern lock. 

The truly exquisite woodwork and paneling, all hand work, was 
paid for by the builder with a farm. The present owner, Dr. Hall, 
who loves his beautiful home, has furnished it throughout with antique 
furniture, hangings and ornaments, all in keeping. Both drawing and 
dining room have the paneled fireplace wall, with cupboards on either 
side. 

In one of the two Dutch doors a piece of wood has been fitted in 
to fill a hole. About this the following tale has been related in an old 
story, The Entailed Hat, part of which is laid in Woodburne. 

The owner at that time was a cruel man, who delighted in torment¬ 
ing his own children. One of his favorite amusements was to order 
them to stand on tiptoe in the great hall, and when, tired, they sank 
to the soles of their feet, he would then lash their ankles. One day, 
infuriated by this treatment, a son snatched a rifle from the wall, 
and fired at his father, but the bullet missed, and pierced the door 
instead. 

It has a ghost, although the owner says that he has never seen it. 

Lorenzo Dow thus described it years ago: 

He was a guest here, and as he was going up the beautiful stairs 
to his room, met a little elderly gentleman, dressed in knee breeches, 
long-tailed coat, powdered wig and queue. He drew aside with a bow 
to allow the old gentleman to pass, which the latter did, bowing in turn, 
but saying nothing. When the family assembled at table that evening, 
Mr. Dow noticed that the old gentleman was not there. 

“ Are you not waiting for your other guest? ” he asked. 

“ What other guest? ” was the surprised query. 

“ Why, the little old gentleman in knee breeches,” replied Dow. 
To his surprise, his hostess seemed greatly embarrassed, and made no 
answer. Afterwards he was told that this was an apparition often seen. 




Eden Farm near Dover, Delaware, home of Nicholas Ridgely, and of his ward Caesar 
Rodney, the Rider. It is still owned by the Ridgelys. 



Amstel house, built 1730, New Castle, Delaware. 














The Ridgely home and its beautiful garden in the heart of old Dover, Delaware. 





6 ?^ Caesar Rodney, the Rider ^§5 


417 


On the outskirts of Dover, Foxall Farm was bought and named by 
Nicholas Ridgely, and is now owned by his great-great-granddaughter, 
Mrs. Charles Du Pont, of Wilmington. Near, too, is Pleasanton Ab¬ 
bey, now a farmhouse, built by Henry Stevens, a devoted Tory, and 
here he several times during the Revolution concealed British soldiers. 

About eight miles from Dover, on the Bay Road, is part of the 
Logan tract, on which are a number of old brick houses. Largest is 
Towne Point, in which the first courts were held in Kent County. 
There are spacious rooms in this mansion, its broad staircase has low 
treads, mahogany handrail and delicately wrought spindles. The stairs 
mount to a great open attic, where wooden pegs still hold the roof in 
place. The bricks of the house are laid in Flemish bond. It faces away 
from the road, and in the distance is a grove of trees marking an old 
slave burying ground, where several hundred are said to have been laid 
to rest. 

Some distance further, at least a mile from the highroad, is another 
brick house, with a very old appearing stone wing. This seems to be 
Kingston-upon-Hull, residence of Samuel Dickinson, and which orig¬ 
inally had a front of about eighty feet, but is in a rather dilapidated 
condition now. The old names are unknown here now, and one has 
difficulty in locating the residences where others have long since occu¬ 
pied them. 

The first Dickinsons to come to America settled in Talbot County, 
Maryland, where the head of the family built a home. His son John, 
born in 1732, was Governor of Maryland and the founder of Dicken¬ 
son College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. His brother Samuel is said to 
have removed to Kent County, Delaware, with his son John, and it 
was probably this man who built the old brick house just mentioned. 
Thomas Parke built the large one that stands in so much better con¬ 
dition now, and owned a house in Dover as well, leaving the country 
house to his wife as a dower house, when he died. 

This by no means exhausts the list of fine old houses, or those once 
fine, in the vicinity of Dover. One can scarcely drive a mile without 
seeing red brick, solid, substantial houses, typical of Delaware even as 
the big stone farm houses are typical in Pennsylvania. 



Chapter XVIII 

Maryland, the Palatinate, and Her Mansions ^§5 


Many are the charming old houses to be found in Maryland. 
Unlike Virginia, Maryland in the early days imported very few 
bricks, for suitable clay with which to make them was available in many 
localities. The highly glazed red or brown bricks found in old walls 
were usually made on the estates, and clay pits are often found near 
the houses. 

In 1634, a band of colonists led by Leonard Calvert, landed at 
what became St. Mary’s, Maryland. This town, once capital of the 
Province, has, like old Jamestown, Virginia, practically disappeared, 
but St. Mary’s Female Seminary was built on its site. 

It was Governor Francis Nicholson who removed Maryland’s cap¬ 
ital from St. Mary’s to Annapolis, despite the petitions of inhabitants 
of the former town. St. Mary’s was Roman Catholic, and in 1654 
Maryland’s Governor, Richard Preston, was a Quaker. The Preston 
mansion became the seat of the Provincial Court, and here the As¬ 
sembly met, and official records were kept until 1660, when Lord 
Baltimore again regained power. 

The citizens of St. Mary’s petitioned that their city be once more 
the capital, and offered to provide “a coach or caravan or both to go at 
all times of public meetings of Assemblies and Provincial Courts every 
day daily between St. Mary’s and Patuxent River, and at all other 
times once a week, and also to keep constantly on hand one dozen 
horses at least with suitable furniture for any person or persons having 
occasion to ride, post, or otherwise with or without a guide to any part 

418 



Maryland and Her Mansions 


419 


of the province on the Western Shore.” But in 1694, the capital was 
permanently established at Annapolis. 

Lord Baltimore, while at the head of the government, had main¬ 
tained feudal state, and lived in a “ palace,” but Richard Bennett, who 
later was Governor of Virginia, Edward Lloyd, Richard Preston, Wil¬ 
liam Berry and William Burgess, with others who were to become 
prominent in the new city, were Puritan refugees from Virginia. 

Annapolis, however, was never a Puritan city. By 1752, it had its 
theatre, and eight years later another was opened with a performance 
of “ The Orphans.” 

When the city plan was made, two adjoining circles were mapped 
out j one for the Province, with the Capitol to stand upon it, the other 
for the church, and on this second one St. Anne’s was built. Another 
circle was laid out for trade, another for “ gentlemen’s houses.” In 
the heart of the latter was built the Chase house. 

Annapolis is filled with fine old houses, and from its early days 
was noted for them. 

In the hotel, Carvel Hall, may be found almost intact the splendid 
mansion built for himself in 1703, by William Paca, already described 
in an earlier book. 1 Of Italian origin, a distinguished citizen, he mar¬ 
ried Mary Chew, of the Philadelphia and Germantown family. Her 
brother Benjamin built beautiful Cliveden in Germantown^ Pennsyl¬ 
vania. 

Paca was Chief Justice, twice Governor of Maryland, Judge of the 
United States District Court, appointed by Washington himself, who, 
when some of Paca’s enemies remonstrated at this appointment is said 
to have replied: 

u Without him and others like him there would have been no 
United States.” 

An annex now to the hotel, the Brice house was considered one of 
the most magnificent in Annapolis. Built about 1740, it was the gift 
of Thomas Jenings, a cousin of Sarah, first Duchess of Marlborough, 
to Juliana, his daughter, who married Colonel James Brice. It has now 

1 Early American Inns and Taverns, the Author. 



420 Historic Houses of Early America 


been converted into suites of apartments, but the large rear room on 
the first floor has been practically unaltered. Every one of the fifteen 
or more rooms in the house has its fireplace, each, with its carved man¬ 
tel, different. Elaborate carving and plaster work, and many varieties 
of rare woods are found within its walls. The stairway is of mahogany. 
The rear room already mentioned has an especially elaborate carved 
mantel, for it was the state drawing room. 

Colonel Brice fought in the Revolutionary Army. His eldest son, 
Thomas Jenings Brice, had made provision in his will for all of his 
servants, and was found dead from a blow on the head, but the mur¬ 
derer was never discovered. Whether with reason or not, it was sup¬ 
posed that the provisions of the will had in some way become known, 
and that one of the servants had thus hastened his inheritance. 

Another magnificent residence in the heart of the fashionable sec¬ 
tion was the Samuel Chase house. 

Two years were required to build its outside walls alone, and it 
was finished in 1769. It has a very broad hall, with stairs at the rear 
which divide half way up into two flights. The doors throughout are 
of solid mahogany, the latches and hinges of wrought silver. There is 
much fine woodwork, elaborately carved window shutters, and beside 
the dining room, there was an ornate breakfast room. 

Two miles south of Princess Anne still stands the house in which 
Samuel Chase was born, built in 1713. He received his earliest edu¬ 
cation from his father, then studied law in Annapolis. He joined the 
Sons of Liberty, and was involved in the destruction of the property 
of Zachariah Hood, Stamp Collector for the Province of Maryland. 
Later he was elected to the Assembly, was a member of the Continental 
Congress from 1774 to 1776; went with Benjamin Franklin and 
Charles Carroll on a special mission to Canada in 1774, was one of the 
Signers, and in 1786 moved to Baltimore, when he was appointed judge 
of the court there. Once during a riot in the streets of that city, Chase 
alone, and with his hands, captured two of the ringleaders, and marched 
them off before a justice. He had also been a member of the committee 
appointed in 1774 in Annapolis to “ effect such association as will se- 



6?^ Maryland and Her Mansions ^5 


421 


cure American liberty,” fellow members being John Hall, Charles 
Carroll, Thomas Johnson, Jr., William Paca and Matthias Hammond. 

Chase was Chief Justice of the Courts of Maryland, then Assistant 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, appointed by Wash¬ 
ington. 

In 1805, he was tried for impeachment, the case creating great 
excitement, but he was acquitted by a tremendous majority of any con¬ 
duct justifying impeachment. He was accused, and it is said justly, 
with “ mingling diatribes against current political conditions with his 
judicial utterances.” 

After his death, the house was owned by Edward Lloyd, the fourth 
of that name in this country, and he was succeeded by the fifth Edward 
Lloyd, Governor of Maryland. After him it was left for a home for 
Aged Women, which it is to-day. 

Opposite the Chase house is the Hammond residence, built by 
Matthias Hammond at the time that the former was owned by Edward 
Lloyd. It is said that at the latter’s request instead of the three-storied 
building which Hammond had planned, he agreed to erect a central 
portion of but two stories, with low wings on either side, so as not to 
cut off Lloyd’s view, provided Lloyd would defray the cost of the 
wings. This was agreed upon, but since the house had already been 
begun, the five foot foundations for the central portion are much 
thicker than would have been the case if the original plans had been 
followed. 

Hammond, so the story goes, built his house in 1774, for his bride, 
but before the wedding day the lady jilted him, declaring that he cared 
more for his house than for her. He died a bachelor. 

After his death, the house came into the possession of Jonathan 
Pinkney, a Tory. His son William, however, was Senator, another 
son, Ninian, United States Minister to Great Britain and to Russia, and 
Attorney General of the United States. William, Ninian’s son, was the 
fifth Episcopal Bishop of Maryland. In 1811, the house was sold to 
Chief Justice Jeremiah Townley Chase as a home for his daughter, 
who married Richard Lockerman, descendant of an old Knickerbocker 



422 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


family. Their daughter inherited the house, and married Judge Wil¬ 
liam Harwood. After the Civil War, he refused to take the oath of 
allegiance to the Federal Government, so could not travel on a train. 
Accordingly he walked once a week thirty miles to and from Baltimore 
to his law office there. 

Last owner of the house was Miss Anne Harwood, and in the early 
autumn of 1926 it was sold at auction to old St. John’s school, and is 
to be preserved as a museum. During the autumn, workmen were al¬ 
ready busy tearing out bricks from the old filled-in fireplaces that they 
might resume their original appearance. It was also planned to remove 
the modern partitions dividing large rooms into small ones, and in 
short to restore the old house, which had passed through many vicis¬ 
situdes, in so far as possible to its original state. 

Entering a broad hall, there is a rather small room on either side, 
and a large one in the rear, the old dining room, which once overlooked 
a very beautiful and extensive garden. Although some of this has been 
sold, enough remains to make a pretty garden. 

Stairs ascend in an alcove at one side of the hall, and from this 
side a narrow passage connects with the right wing. The other wing was 
not open at the time of the writer’s visit. 

Above the dining room is the ballroom, still beautiful, although 
its exquisite carved woodwork is blackened, window and door frames 
painted an ugly brown. Heavy old shutters still screen the windows, 
and there is a handsome cornice j the doors have curious old brass 
latches. 

The Peggy Stewart Inn, an attractive old house down by the Navy 
Yard, must not be confused with the residence a few doors away, a 
colonial house, former home of Alexander and Peggy Stuart. 

Alexander arrived from England on his ship, the Peggy, with a 
cargo consisting of tea, consigned to Thomas and Charles Williams 
and Company. Stewart paid the duty and tried to land it, but tea had by 
that time been banned by all patriotic colonists, and so great was pop¬ 
ular indignation in Annapolis that in spite of Stewart’s explanations 
that he ought not to be held responsible for goods ordered by others, 



Maryland and Her Mansions 


423 


it was actually proposed to tar and feather him. Only by apologizing 
humbly and offering with his own hands to burn and sink his ship, with 
the offending cargo, did he escape with his liberty, perhaps his life. 
From an upper window in their house, his wife watched her husband 
ground and then burn his ship, and Annapolis had her Tea Party. 

In 1783 his son Anthony was one of fifty-one men in New York 
who petitioned for a grant of land in Nova Scotia, and left the United 
States. 

The Scott house in Annapolis, built in 1760, was owned by a great- 
uncle of the author of the Star Spangled Banner, and Francis Scott 
Key often stayed here as a boy. Key’s father, John Ross Key, lived in 
a brick house, now gone, in Middleburg District, Carroll County. 

Carrollton, one of the many houses owned by the Carrolls of 
Carrollton, is now occupied by a body of Redemptionist priests. Here 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton wrote four letters to the Maryland 
Gazette in 1773, defending the rights of the people, and signed them: 
u First Citizen.” It is said that the Assembly adjourned in a body after 
the publication of these letters, and went to Carroll’s house to express 
their thanks to him. 

Wherever one goes in this part of Maryland, whatever of history 
one reads, the name of Carroll will be frequently met. 

Daniel Carroll of O’Neill, Ireland, is said to have had twenty sons, 
“ whom he presented in one troop of horse, well acoutred in habili¬ 
ments of war, to the Earl of Ormond, for the service of Charles I.” 
Most of the twenty died in foreign service, but from them all of the 
Carrolls in this country are by some historians said to descend. Others 
maintain that there were two distinct families, not connected. 

The eldest of the twenty sons, Daniel, had two sons, Charles and 
John. 

Dr. Charles Carroll (i chyrurgeon,” son of the other Charles men¬ 
tioned, came from Ireland at an early date, settled in Annapolis, and 
later bought a tract of land in Georgia, which was rich in iron ore. 
Educated a Catholic, after coming to this country he became a Prot¬ 
estant. He prospered, and before long, the iron on his estate was paying 



424 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


for silver, glass, furniture, carriages, etc., as well as for the building of 
several houses. He owned a number of states, Mount Clare, now within 
the city limits of Baltimore, The Plains, near Annapolis, Claremont 
and The Caves being some of these. He claimed descent from Daniel 
and his wife, Dorothy, of Ely and O’Neill, Ireland. 

Dr. Carroll’s eldest son, Charles, was sent to Eton and to Cam¬ 
bridge University to be educated, and became a student at Inns of 
Court, The Temple, London. 

While Charles Carroll was living u at the Middle Temple, Garden 
Library, Staircase No. 2, London,” his brother died, and Charles, re¬ 
turning from England in 1757, arrived only a short time before the 
father’s death. 

He had a home on Shipwright Street, Baltimore, which has been 
replaced by a modern school building. 

In Carroll Park, far above the street level, high enough to look 
over and beyond the factories and other buildings between street and 
river, stands the beautiful old house built in 1768 by The Barrister. 
The street, Columbia Avenue, was the Indian trail running north 
and south, so it requires no vivid imagination to picture the travelers 
who once passed here. 

Originally the grounds of Mount Clare extended to the river, but 
enough of them remain as a park to make a charming setting. 

Entering the gate, one mounts a series of terraces which were part 
of the original grounds. John Adams, who was entertained by the 
owner, thus described them: “There is a very beautiful garden and 
then a fall, another flat garden and then a fall, and so on down to the 
river.” 

“ Fall ” is still the name given in Maryland to terraces. 

Close beside the old front door, the Maryland Society of Colonial 
Dames of America affixed a tablet, stating that the house was built by 
Charles Carroll, the Barrister. 

The fine old house had fallen into a sad state when the Park Board 
of Baltimore purchased it, carefully restored it, and leased it to the 
Colonial Dames for a museum. To this society much credit is due, for 



Maryland and Her Mansions 


425 


they have succeeded in acquiring through gift or loans much of the 
original furniture, some of the pictures, and other interesting articles, 
so that the house is now practically as it was in the days of its great 
owner. 

Entering the square hall, almost opposite the entrance is the large 
drawing room, with view over the garden down to the river, while at 
the left hand is a small breakfast room or office. This has a fine carved 
mantel, and on the walls now hang the arms of Maryland and those 
of some of her most distinguished families. 

The drawing room is beautiful. Here is a set of six chairs in gold 
and white wood, upholstered in gold brocade, the color still unfaded, 
although these were the property of the Barrister. On the wall hangs 
a copy of the original portrait of him by Peale, copied by his great- 
granddaughter. 

The title, the Barrister, was added to his name for a very definite 
reason. After his return from England, he wrote to his friends: “ There 
are so many of my name in this town that some particular direction is 
necessary to prevent mistakes. Please, therefore, direct to me either 
‘ Counsellor 1 or ‘ Barrister-at-Law,’ and when you write to my corre¬ 
spondents, be pleased to mention me with that addition.” 

The dining room has a charming carved mantel, flanked by arched- 
topped china closets, on the shelves of which have been assembled 
some fine examples of old glass and china. One set of the latter was 
actually used by Mr. Carroll. An unusual table, with a Gothic window 
design beneath the top, and hanging acorn drops will arouse the ad¬ 
miration of any lover of old furniture, as will a beautiful pie crust 
table. 

The stairs leading to both second story and attic have delicate hand 
carved spindles, and the mahogany handrail usual in fine old houses 
of the period. In one of the spacious bedrooms, with two powder 
closets opening from it, Lafayette slept when on a visit here, and the 
mahogany bed and chest of drawers are those which he used. 

One of those subterranean passages so often found in old houses 
led from this house to the Patapsco River, and it is said that this passage 



426 6?^ Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


was used by the people of Baltimore when, after Braddock’s defeat, 
the authorities ordered all the women and children placed on board 
ships in the harbor for safety. The Indians at that time came within 
thirty miles of the town. The passage, and a small room into which it 
opened near the house have now been walled up, so the eager visitor 
may not explore them. 

Charles Carroll married Margaret, daughter of Matthew Tilgh- 
man, of the distinguished Talbot County family. His wife long sur¬ 
vived him, and her will, which hangs in the old office here, naming as 
her executors Henry Brice and Tench Tilghman, requests that they 
free and provide for her slaves, and leaves the negro boy, Tom, to 
Henry Brice until he shall be thirty-one, when he is to be set free. 

Like the other Charles Carroll, in spite of his English education, 
and his close friendship with Governor Sir Robert Eden, the Barrister 
threw himself heart and soul into the patriot’s cause, and lived to see 
it victorious. 

After his father’s death, he was elected a member of Maryland’s 
lower house, and was a member of the Committee of Correspondence, 
together with Matthew Tilghman, John Hall, Samuel Chase, Thomas 
Johnson, Jr., William Paca and Charles Carroll of Carrollton. He was 
also elected to the first State Senate of Maryland, and re-elected. He 
died in 1781, a few months after another Charles Carroll, of Cole’s 
Harbor. That he was related to Sir Daniel O’Carroll, who owned 
estates at Ely, O’Carroll, Mallebrit, Leap and Castletown, Ireland, is 
proved by letters exchanged between Sir Daniel and Dr. Carroll. 

The Colonial Dames have some interesting invoices of Carroll’s 
purchases for Mount Clare after his wedding. For instance: “ one 
four-wheeled Post chariot made light and fashionable without a box, 
but strong and neat, with plain simple strong springs, lined with green 
cloth, painted and ornamented fashionably with the enclosed coat-of- 
arms, and strong good harness, not for travelling into the country, but 
for town use, as they answer much better than heavy chariots, as our 
horses are but small, and the ground deep and sandy.” He also orders 
clothes for himself and his wife: 



6 ^ Maryland and Her Mansions 


427 


“ One suit of blue cloth for an undress suit, a coat, waistcoat and 
breeches made in French fashion, lined with narrow double gold lace, 
about ten guineas. One rich flowered brocade for a dress. (They were 
fashionable when I was in England.) which has a light gold sprigg or 
flower woven into the silk which should cost about eight guineas a 
yard 5 a lady’s watch with coat-of-arms quartered with the Tilghman 
coat-of-arms,” etc. 

Homewood, beautifully situated on a hill in the suburbs of Balti¬ 
more, was built by Charles Carroll of Carrollton as a home for his son, 
outside the town, that this son, who was given to dissipation, might be 
further from temptations, and perhaps reform. The latter did live 
here, but died before his father. He married Harriet Chew. 

This house, practically unchanged, is now the Johns Hopkins Club. 
A two-story brick building, with a wing at each end, one enters a broad 
hall, terminating in a room reached through a wide archway. Two 
rooms open on either side of the hall, and narrow passages lead to the 
wings, where are a number of small rooms. The great mahogany doors 
have no hinges, but turn on pivots. There are beautifully carved man¬ 
tels and woodwork throughout the house. 

Many are the fine old estates in the vicinity of Baltimore. Among 
the most famous is Doughregan Manor, home of Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton, longest lived Signer. The Carrolls were distinguished 
patriots and citizens, as well as among the wealthiest of colonial fam¬ 
ilies. 

This house is three hundred feet long and but thirty deep, and 
contains a private chapel, where every Sunday for more than a century 
mass was said. The family were devout Roman Catholics, and here 
was an apartment known as the Cardinal’s room, decorated in scarlet 
and gold, in which any high dignitary of the church when visiting the 
mansion was lodged. 

Charles Carroll, grandfather of the Signer, and founder of this 
branch of the family in America, was a claimant of estates of the 
O’Carrolls, princes of Ely, in Kings and Tipperary counties, Ireland. 
Petitioning for these estates, he was given instead a grant of 60,000 



428 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


acres in Maryland, and later, 10,000 more. He first chose a tract on the 
site of Frederick, Maryland, but later changed, and the manor house 
stands on land finally accepted by him. Appointed Attorney General 
by Lord Baltimore, he became involved in political quarrels, was im¬ 
prisoned, but later liberated, and appointed Judge and Register of the 
Land Office, both important posts. When the second Lord Baltimore 
died, he was attorney for the widow. Like later Carrolls, he was edu¬ 
cated at Douai, France. He was twice married, and the father of ten 
children. 

His son Charles built the Carroll mansion in Annapolis, on two 
lots of ground which he is said to have purchased from a widow, pay¬ 
ing her much more than they were worth. In this Annapolis house 
Washington was often a guest, and it, too, had a private chapel. 

The second Charles had but one son, the Signer of the Declaration 
of Independence. The latter was born in 1735, sent to France to be 
educated, but absence in a foreign country did not lessen his love of his 
native land, and on his return, in 1765, he threw himself heart and 
soul into the patriot’s cause. Mr. Hammond quotes the following story. 

“‘Will you sign? ’ said Hancock to Charles Carroll. 

“ ‘ Most willingly.’ 

“ ‘ There goes two millions with the dash of a pen,’ says one of 
those standing by. 

“ ‘Oh, Carroll, you will get offj there are so many Charles Car- 
rolls.’ ” 2 

When this third Charles Carroll died, he owned more than 80,000 
acres in Maryland, and over 27,000 in Pennsylvania. His son died 
before him, and Doughregan passed to the grandson, Charles, born at 
Homewood. The latter’s son, the sixth Charles, married a descendant 
of Washington’s grandfather Ball, but had no children, and after his 
death the place was purchased by his brother, John Lee Carroll, one 
of Maryland’s governors. Folly Quarter, willed to his granddaughter, 
was another of the third Charles’ estates. 

Dr. Charles Carroll, a kinsman of the first Charles Carroll of 

2 Colonial Mansions of Maryland and Delaware, John Martin Hammond. 



6 ?^ Maryland and Her Mansions 


429 


Carrollton, married Dorothy Blake, a granddaughter of Madame 
Henrietta Maria Lloyd, a person of importance. When she married 
Philemon Lloyd of Wye, she was the widow of Richard Bennett. She 
was the daughter of Captain James Neale and his wife, born Anne Gill. 
The Neales went to England, where Mrs. Neale was maid of honor to 
Queen Henrietta Maria, and when her daughter was born, the Queen 
is said to have stood godmother for the baby. Captain Neale was one 
of seven gentlemen who stood beside Charles I on the scaffold, to 
each of whom he gave a ring, which, on a spring being pressed, opened 
to reveal a tiny portrait of the monarch, with “Jan. 30, 1648 ”, the 
date, old style, of the execution. The ring has been handed down in the 
Lloyd family ever since. 

This Dr. Charles was the father of still another Charles Carroll, 
author of the Declaration of Rights. 

At Mattapany, the old brick house built by Governor Charles Cal¬ 
vert, later Lord Baltimore, still stands, on part of a tract of land said 
to have been given by Pantheon, King of the Indians, to the Jesuits. 
They established a store and mission here at an early date, for in 1641 
they gave the land to Lord Baltimore. In 1663, the Hon. Henry 
Sewall, Secretary of the Province and member of the Council, received 
a grant of 1200 acres of this tract, which his widow, Jane, inherited 
two years later. She married Charles Calvert. Maryland deputies, 
driven from St. Mary’s City, took refuge here, and it became a garri¬ 
son house for them. 

William, son of the first Calvert, had a home on Calvert’s Bay. 
He was Deputy Governor. 

Mt. Airy, near Croome, Prince George’s County, is the Calvert 
mansion, built by Benedict, son of Lord Baltimore’s fifth son, Charles. 
There is a mystery about Benedict’s parentage. No one knows who was 
his mother, nor where he was born. In 1748 he married a distant 
cousin, Elizabeth Calvert, and began building this house. 

The Calverts had wished to found a Maryland landed aristocracy, 
but failed in the attempt. In 1636 it was decreed that every estate of 
2,000 acres should constitute a manor. Large houses were built, as has 



43 ° Historic Houses of Early America 


been seen, usually with spacious rooms grouped around a central hall. 
As in many old Virginia homes, the walls were usually wainscoted 
from floor to ceiling, the woodwork often finely hand carved. Portraits 
of six or seven generations frequently hung on the walls, for by the 
middle period of the colony, there were wealth and luxury in these 
homes. Sideboards in the dining rooms were covered with decanters, 
glasses and silver adorned with the family crest, which had all been in 
the family for several generations, or brought with the first settlers 
from England. 

An early English writer remarks: “ Their furniture is of the most 
costly wood, and rarest marbles, enriched by skillful and artistic work. 
Their elegant and light carriages are drawn by finely bred horses, and 
driven by richly apparelled slaves.” 

Mt. Airy is said to have been a hunting lodge, built by Lord Balti¬ 
more. One wing, long, low, with dormer windows and hipped roof, 
built of bricks laid endwise, forming walls almost two feet thick, is 
pointed out as the original building. The main house, two stories high, 
was added to this wing. The cellar of the newer portion connects with 
that under the old wing, and through the five-foot walls of the latter 
runs a secret passage, long unexplored. The gardens are said to have 
been laid out by Major L’Enfant, planner of the city of Washington. 

The land on which fine old Belmont stands was sold in 1735 to 
Caleb Dorsey, of Annapolis, who gave it to his son Caleb. The latter 
built the house in 1738. Inheriting a large fortune, he greatly in¬ 
creased it by developing iron ores in this section. With his brother, he 
built a foundry, and later alone two more. Caleb Dorsey was an ardent 
patriot, and many cannon used by the American forces in the Revolu¬ 
tion were cast in the Dorsey foundries. 

His son Edward inherited the place, which then passed to Ed¬ 
ward’s daughter, who, when her guardians refused their consent, 
eloped with Alexander Contee Hanson. His father as a youth was 
Washington’s second secretary, the first being Hanson’s cousin. In 
1784, Alexander was called upon with Samuel Chase to make a digest 
of Maryland’s laws, and later was United States Senator. A man of 



Maryland and Her Mansions )$$$ 


431 


strong convictions, he edited the Federal Republic of Baltimore, and 
once, for some of his views therein expressed, was attacked by an angry 
mob and almost killed. 

Four Hansons, wards of the Queen, came to New Sweden in 1642, 
with Lieutenant Colonel John Printz, the Governor. Later, all four 
came to Kent Island, Maryland. Equality, Mulberry Grove, Harwood 
and Oxon Hill were all Hanson places. Samuel Hanson was one of 
the first to come to the Upper Potomac section, after 1650. John, his 
grandson, and father of Alexander, signed the Non Importation Act, 
was chairman of a committee appointed to stop importations from Great 
Britain and the West Indies, President of the Continental Congress, 
and welcomed Washington officially, after the surrender of Cornwallis. 

Belmont, like other Maryland mansions of its period, consists of 
a central building, with two wings. A hall runs through the middle 
from front to rear, and rooms on both sides are beautifully paneled in 
oak, from floor to ceiling, as is the ballroom in one wing, the other 
containing the kitchen. Half a mile from the house is the family bury¬ 
ing ground. 

It has its ghost, a strange one. There comes first the sound of 
horses’ hoofs, with the jangle of harness. Then feet are heard going 
down the hall to the front door, which opens, and other feet come in, 
while the horses, apparently drawing a heavy coach or carriage, pass 
around the house towards the stables. 

Whitehall, nine miles from Baltimore, was the home of Governor 
Horatio Sharpe. It is a Georgian house of bricks, said to have been 
made on the place by slaves. Finished with beautifully carved wood¬ 
work, this was executed by a young redemptioner from England, to 
whom the.Governor, becoming interested in his carvings, offered free¬ 
dom if he did good work for the new house. The young man died soon 
after it was finished, without ever having revealed any particulars of 
himself or his early history. 

Governor Sharpe is said to have been responsible for the Stamp 
Act, final piece of tyranny which caused the Revolution. In a letter to 
Lord Baltimore he suggested “ a duty on all spirituous liquors and 



43 2 Historic Houses of Early America ^§5 


wines,” or that money might be raised “ by a Duty or something similar 
on Deeds and writings.” 

Sharpe left Whitehall to John Ridout, whose fortune he early 
made by recognizing his ability, making him his secretary and event¬ 
ually admitting him to close friendship. In Belmont, Ridout’s sister, 
Mary, is said to have danced with Washington, then a young officer 
with the Provincial militia, while Benjamin Franklin played a tune 
for them on the musical glasses. 

The present owners are singularly averse to allowing anyone to 
see the place. 

This is not the case with the charming family living in Hampton, 
the old Ridgely house, near Towson, some thirteen miles from Balti¬ 
more, and said to be the largest colonial mansion in Maryland. The 
first house on this estate was a story and a half farmhouse, built in 
1729, later and still used by the overseer. 

Charles Ridgely, a sea captain, great-grandson of Robert, first of 
the family to come to this country, built the beautiful old house still 
occupied by his descendants of the name. It was seven years in build¬ 
ing, the carpenter-builder occupying the eastern side, first to be finished, 
until the entire house was completed in 1783. Captain Ridgely himself 
laid out the beautiful gardens. The eastern portion is the handsomer, 
containing finer paneling, but the whole house calls for superlatives. 

Two stories and a half in height, one enters an unusually broad 
hall running through the middle, from front to back, the windows 
paned with stained glass, while over the great front and back doors are 
the Ridgely coat-of-arms, also in colored glass. The walls of this hall 
and of the lower rooms are literally lined with family portraits, in¬ 
cluding a lovely one of Eliza Ridgely — of whom more later — taken 
with her harp, at the age of fifteen, a full length painting by Sully. 

The stairs are in a smaller hall between library and dining room, 
while a rear staircase, with housekeeper’s room on the landing, were 
added only seventy years ago, as testified to in a diary kept by a daugh¬ 
ter of the house: “ The back stair was finished to-day, and my squirrel 
died.” 















Courtesy of the Maryland Chapter , Colonial Dames of America 


Dining room, Mt. Clare, Carroll Park, Baltimore, Maryland. 



E. Challenger IA Son , New Castle , Delaware 

The George Read house, built in 1801, and originally standing in the gardens of the 
older house, built by the senior Read, and which burned to the ground. 

















Maryland and Her Mansions ^5 


433 


The drawing room, a very large apartment, filled with old furni¬ 
ture, has but one door, that opening from the hall. When it was once 
suggested that another be cut into the room behind, the owner of the 
house objected that a u withdrawing room ” should be one in fact as 
well as in name, an apartment into which one could withdraw without 
being annoyed by too much passing in and out. 

One wing contains the kitchen, laundry, etc., the other a room 
which was really the first bathroom, at a time when modern plumbing 
was unknown, for the grandfather of the present owner installed two 
tin tubs therein. Above, reached by its own staircase, is the old school¬ 
room. Each generation since has introduced improvements} thus, 
the father of Captain Ridgely added gas, the present owner in¬ 
stalled heating apparatus and the telephone, as well as modern bath¬ 
rooms. 

At front and rear of the main part of the house is a great portico, 
its columns rising to the roof, while a balcony is built in on the second 
floor level. When seen in May, the rear one was a mass of wistaria in 
full bloom, and the gardens were charming, stretching away in the 
rear. Eliza Ridgely loved these gardens, and planted many flowers 
and shrubs which are still blooming. 

In 1790, when Captain Ridgely was building Hampton, workmen 
quit at four o’clock daily, not because of union regulations for an 
eight hour day, but because wolves so infested the country between 
there and Baltimore after dark. When Hampton was finished, Mrs. 
Ridgely, who was Rebecca Dorsey, and a devout Methodist, wished to 
have a religious service as house warming. The Captain agreed pro¬ 
vided the opening address be delivered by the Reverend John Cole, 
an Episcopal clergyman, after which, he declared, “ she might have all 
the praying and shouting that she pleased.” 

Governor Eden’s act of November 26th, 1770, regulating the fees 
of public officers, was thought to usurp the rights of the citizens, and 
Charles Ridgely, Thomas Cockey Deye, Aquila Hall, and Walter 
Tolley, Junior, were instructed to “ testify their thanks to the ‘ First 
Citizen ’ (Charles Carroll of Carrollton), “ for his spirited, eloquent 



434 Historic Houses of Early America 


and patriotic opposition to the proclamation in the controversy with 
1 Antillon\” (Daniel Dulany). 

Captain Ridgely left Hampton to his nephew Charles, who changed 
his name from Carnan to Ridgely to inherit it. He became Governor 
of Maryland, Brigadier General, appointed by Governor Stone, and 
United States Senator. His wife was a Puritan, and would not consent 
that her portrait should be painted to add to the family collection, so 
the husband brought an artist into the house under the pretext of dec¬ 
orating the ceilings. The artist worked secretly behind closed doors, 
and produced a portrait of the lady, which now hangs with the others. 

The Governor and his wife had eleven children, and Hampton 
passed to the second, John, the eldest having died before his father. 

John married Eliza, daughter of Nicholas Ridgely of Delaware, 
thus allying the two families of the name. He owned a famous race 
horse, Post Boy, which after winning many races, finally broke his leg 
during a race, gamely finished victor on his three sound legs, but his 
owner was forced to have him shot. 

In the bedroom above the drawing room, although supporting 
beams have been pronounced perfectly sound, the floor sags perceptibly 
towards the centre. This, known as the White Room, is very lovely 
when the old white hangings are brought out for special occasions. It 
is the a haunted room.” Mrs. Swan, a beauty and close friend of the 
mistress of the house at the time, occupied it while on a visit. One morn¬ 
ing she remarked at the breakfast table that she had repeatedly dreamed 
the same dream during the night. She was walking on the shore in a 
storm, and saw a distorted little man in a boat, vainly trying to reach 
her. He then cried out: “ Never mind, I’m coming for you in a week.” 
Within a week she died, in the white room, and now is seen there, 
putting on her bonnet. 

John Ridgely left Hampton to his son Charles, the latter to his 
son John, the present owner, who has a son and grandson, both named 
John, to whom to bequeath it, for although not entailed by law, of 
course, yet family tradition has always willed the estate to the eldest 


son. 



Maryland and Her Mansions ^5 


435 


Cross Manor stands near Grayson’s Wharf, St. Inigoes Creek. Sir 
Thomas Cornwaleys came to this country in 1634 with Leonard Cal¬ 
vert, on the Ark, was a Member of the Council, and when Lord Balti¬ 
more put down Claiborne’s rebellion, he commanded in the first naval 
battle ever fought off our shores. He built Cross Manor in 1642, but 
since one historian states that his Protestant servants burned down his 
house and fences soon after this date, possibly the house that still stands 
here was the first one repaired, or was newly built on the old founda¬ 
tions. He was one of the richest manorial lords who came with Calvert, 
and was Deputy Governor. 

The house has been much changed, and re-built, but is thought the 
oldest brick house in the state. There are fine old trees here, one of 
box being forty-five feet in circumference, and there is a charming old 
garden as well. 

Various stories are told concerning the origin of the name. One 
is that a great friend of Cornwaleys was killed near here by Indians, 
and that when Cornwaleys later built his manor house, he placed a cross 
on one wall, in honor of his friend. 

The Eastern Shore, Maryland, has many interesting, picturesque 
old houses. At Secretary is one of these, Warwick Fort Manor, built in 
1740 by Colonel Henry Hooper. He was a Brigadier General of militia 
for the lower half of the Eastern Shore peninsula. Its very thick walls 
are thought to have been built as protection against Indians, at the time 
when the Choptanks roamed through the nearby forests. Some of the 
old hinges are four feet long, and inside were iron bars which could be 
pushed across, still further to strengthen them. 

The rooms were paneled and finished in rosewood and mahogany, 
the fireplaces had carved mantels, while the winding stairs had rail and 
bannisters of mahogany. It, too, has its haunted room, and traditions 
of buried treasure. 

The Point, the oldest house in Cambridge, was built between 1706 
and 1710 by Colonel John Kirk, Lord Baltimore’s agent for Dorchester 
County. Two rooms were added in 1770 by Robert Goldsborough, and 
two more with a hall, by James Steele in 1796. Colonel Kirk’s daughter 



436 6^ Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


inherited the place from her father, and married the Reverend Thomas 
Howell, first rector of the first Episcopal Church in Cambridge at 
Church Creek. He planted a double row of cedars around the two 
acres in which the house was set, and also a cross of cedars, which grew 
to great size, three feet in diameter, but finally were struck by lightning, 
only the stumps remaining. 

The town of Easton, near which are a number of fine old places, 
stands on part of a large tract surveyed in 1664 for three men, one of 
whom, Phill Armstrong, later sold to the judges two acres of his tract 
“ whereon to build a courthouse.” The tract was originally known as 
London-derry, but the house built by Armstrong in 1650 has long since 
disappeared, although a modern residence was built near the old site 
after the Civil War. 

Beautiful Hope stands on the original land grant given by Lord 
Baltimore in 1666. The house, built in 1740, had finally fallen into a 
sad state, its gardens overgrown with grass and weeds, when it was pur¬ 
chased by Mr. William J. Starr. He labored lovingly from 1906 to 
191O to restore it, while his wife, who admits that when she first saw 
her husband’s purchase she was in despair at its condition, laid out with 
loving skill and care the present gardens, both working “ not for an age, 
but for all time,” as a tablet affixed near the front doors states. Flowers 
of all kinds now bloom here, in the “ heart garden,” its beds bordered 
with box, of which Mrs. Starr has planted quantities. The trees, too, in 
addition to those already on the estate, have been planted with care and 
discrimination, and the owner is the proud possessor of a testimonial 
from the Maryland Tree Association as to their rank. She has a “ Field 
of States,” with trees from every state in the Union j there is a remark¬ 
able old English yew, which experts have pronounced 250 years old, 
English lindens, and many rare species. 

The red brick house, partially veiled by ivy and creepers, is very 
beautiful. From the terrace in the rear, a charming view may be had of 
the winding Miles River, on which boats used in the old days to bring 
guests to Hope. Within is a great hall, and handsome old stairs, their 
treads and rail of mahogany, lead to the upper stories. On either side 



( Maryland and Her Mansions )$$$ 


437 


of the hall are finely paneled rooms, with exquisite hand carved wood¬ 
work, all now restored to the original beauty, and suitably filled with 
furniture and ornaments of the proper period. The two wings, with 
their unusual ogee roofs, contain one a large library, which tempts the 
book-lover to linger, the other a dining and a breakfast room. 

Approaching Hope by one road, the Anchorage will be passed, ly¬ 
ing directly on the Miles River. The original house here was built in 
1732. During the Revolution, the British fleet sailed up, and attacked 
the town of St. Michael’s, but did little damage, for the inhabitants had 
put lights in the upper stories only of their houses, so the shots were 
aimed too high. At that time the place was the home of the Reverend 
John Gordon, Episcopal clergyman in charge of Miles Church, a Revo¬ 
lutionary parish, now standing, a ruin, on the opposite side of the high¬ 
road from the house. He built a residence here, apparently to replace 
the old one, two stories high, and Governor Lloyd added wings on 
either side, connected by passages with the main portion. The present 
handsome residence now standing here is this one modernized. 

In this section of Maryland is a group of old estates once belong¬ 
ing to the Goldsborough family, several still remaining in that owner¬ 
ship. The first of the name came from England in 1668, and went to 
Barbadoes, but remained only a short time, going then to New Eng¬ 
land. Nor did he long tarry there, but removed again, this time to 
Kent Island, Maryland, where he died within a few months. He had 
left two sons and a daughter behind him in England, but his wife ac¬ 
companied him, and within a year of his death married George Robins. 
The two sons came to Maryland a few years later. The elder, Robert, 
settled at Ashby, and married Elizabeth Greenbury, daughter of a 
Deputy Governor of Maryland. By grant and purchase, he acquired 
an estate of 20,000 acres. He was the great-grandfather of the Honor¬ 
able Robert, of Cambridge. 

The younger son, Nicholas, married Ann Powell, and settled at 
Otwell. This is now the oldest of all the houses belonging to the Golds- 
boroughs. 

It stands aloof from the highroad, reached by its own long drive, 



43 8 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


and almost surrounded by the waters of Goldsborough and Trippe’s 
creeks, and the Tredavon River. 

The original portion, built in 1663, probably consisted of two 
rooms, with two more on an upper half story. Here the walls are very 
thick, the mantels plain and hand hewn, while the great front door of 
massive hand hewn planks, has old hinges, hand wrought latch, and 
heavy old key. Frequently added to, the house is now a long, low, 
irregular brick building. One addition was the broad hallway, with 
door at each end, and fine staircase, with hand carved bannisters. Op¬ 
posite the old rooms is another, added at an early date. In this, the 
present dining room, is a powder closet, not the kind in which wigs were 
powdered, but a small compartment set high up in the old chimney, 
and in which powder could be kept dry. 

From the early added broad hall, a narrower one runs across the 
rest of the front, connecting the various additions, and the entire in¬ 
terior contains enough strap, H and HL hinges to delight lovers of 
the antique. 

Pleasant Valley, another Goldsborough place, but no longer in the 
family, was built in 1734 for Howes, son of the Honorable Robert of 
Cambridge. It, too, is far off the highroad, a fine old brick house, with 
beautiful paneling and woodwork, and large, high-ceiled rooms. 

The Honorable Robert, always so known to distinguish him from 
the other Roberts in the family, was a great-great-grandson of the 
original “ emigrant.” He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, 
and would have been a Signer, had he not been prevented from this by 
a bad attack of gout. 

Although Ashby was the first home of the elder son of the first 
Goldsborough, Myrtle Grove, “ next door,” meaning several miles by 
road, has the older house, for the original Ashby house was destroyed 
long ago. Both places are still owned by Goldsboroughs. 

A long, low wing, built of wide boards, is the original Myrtle 
Grove dwelling, built in or about 1699. The large, square, high-ceiled 
addition, now the main part of the house, was built a hundred years 
later. A fine old avenue bordered with trees leads to its front door, but 



Maryland and Her Mansions ^5 


439 


it is now seldom visited by the family, and only the wing is occupied 
by the tenant farmer. When George Robins Goldsborough married 
Eleanor Rogers, daughter of Lloyd Rogers of Tulip Hill, near Wash¬ 
ington, and great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, a wedding 
reception was given the young couple in Myrtle Grove, and they went 
to spend their summers at Ashby, their winters being usually passed in 
Washington. 

The present house at Ashby had already been built then, indeed it 
is probably not more than seventy-five years old, a substantial frame 
house, with large rooms, and high ceilings, now unoccupied. It is open 
to the passing stranger, but so far its unshuttered windows are practi¬ 
cally intact, and although a party of youths not long ago wantonly tore 
out a couple of the mantels, and did some other damage, as yet but 
little expense would be necessary to put it in condition. 

Beautifully situated, the lawn, shaded by fine old trees, runs down 
on two sides to the winding Miles River. The Goldsborough burying 
ground close to the house is in good condition, enclosed by an ivy-grown 
brick wall, whose single iron gate is wisely kept locked against lawless 
intruders. 

Wye, although cared for, is another old place seldom occupied by 
the owner, but is still in the possession of the Lloyds. 

This family is of Welsh origin, and one of the name had come to 
Virginia as early as 1623. The Maryland Edward Lloyd, a Puritan, 
came to the state about 1645, and at an early date owned large tracts 
of land on the Wye River. In 1668, he went to England on business, 
leaving his son, probably Philemon, in charge, and there is no record of 
his return. Philemon and his brother Edward are said both to have 
fallen in love with a pretty Quaker, Sarah Covington, and she married 
Edward. 

Philemon was a business associate of Governor Bennett, and after 
his death, married his daughter Henrietta Maria. She was a devout 
Roman Catholic, and is credited with having built the first chapel for 
that denomination in the county, at Doncaster, or Wye town. It and 
the town have long since disappeared. 



44 ° 6 ^ Historic Houses of Early America 


Edward Lloyd is believed to have built the first house at Wye be¬ 
fore returning to England, but it may have been built by his son. The 
original house was burned in 177.6, by the British, and all the family 
records perished with it, all the family silver was also carried off, al¬ 
though later a portion of this was recovered. Of the old buildings the 
orangery, and probably the smoke house and a couple of brick slave 
dwellings remain. The present residence was built before the close of 
the Revolution by the Reverend Edward Lloyd, fourth of his name in 
Maryland, where there have been seven, all holding prominent of¬ 
fices, including burgesses, members of the Assembly, councillors, cap¬ 
tains and colonels in the army, and three governors. The Reverend 
Edward was a member of the Provincial Convention, delegate to the 
lower house of the Assembly, and later a State Senator. 

The present long frame house, with its two wings, was tightly 
closed, the windows shuttered when visited, but the beautiful circular 
lawn shaded by fine old trees could be admired. Behind the house is a 
broad stretch of lawn, bordered on the sides by great hedges of lilacs, 
white, pale and deep purple, and at the end by the old orangery, of 
stucco-covered bricks. Its windows are broken, there is no longer a 
vestige in it of orange trees or shrubs of any kind} it is used merely 
as a storehouse for farm and garden tools. Behind this is the old family 
burying ground, overgrown with violets and myrtle, containing tomb¬ 
stones of many early and recent Lloyds, including Henrietta 'Maria 
and Philemon, with their children. 

One of their daughters married Matthews Tilghman Ward, who 
owned another great estate not far away. Until he was eight years old, 
Fred Douglas lived on Wye estate, the son of a mulatto woman owned 
by one of Governor Lloyd’s sailing masters, and as a little boy played 
with the Governor’s small son. 

Old Rich Neck estate at Claiborne was sold in the spring of 1927 
to a New Yorker. This tract was first surveyed in 1649, was owned by 
several men, and in 1684, upon payment of £104, and 23,000 pounds 
of tobacco, 2,000 acres became the property of Captain James Murphy. 
He was captain of militia, justice of the peace, was commissioned with 




Dining room, Hope, Easton, Maryland. 



Hope, Easton, Maryland 




























































Maryland and Her Mansions ^5 


441 


Edward Lloyd, Richard Tilghman and William Hemsley Gen¬ 
tlemen of the Quorum, to hold provincial courts, and perform other 
duties, and shortly before his death, was President of this Quorum. 

He married Mabel Dawson, a belle and beauty of the Colony, and 
at his death left his large fortune entirely to her. She married Mat¬ 
thews Tilghman Ward 5 they had one daughter, who died young and 
unmarried, and when Mrs. Ward died, her husband married Margaret 
Lloyd of Wye. They had no children, and when Ward died, he left 
his large fortune to his widow for her lifetime, then it was to go to 
his cousin, Matthew Tilghman, who made his home with the Wards. 
Tilghman came into ownership of this property in 1790, and lived on 
it until his death. 

Matthews Tilghman Ward had for twenty years held many im¬ 
portant posts j Speaker of the Assembly, member of the Council, Lieu¬ 
tenant General of the Colony’s militia, etc. Matthew Tilghman played 
an even more important role in the affairs of the Colony. 

He, too, was Speaker of the Assembly, and delegates were ap¬ 
pointed under his leadership to the Continental Congress in Philadel¬ 
phia which signed the Declaration of Independence. Tilghman at¬ 
tended this Convention, but was absent, detained in Annapolis, when 
the Declaration was signed. 

Throughout the Revolution he played an important part. He was 
Chairman of the Committee of Safety for the Eastern Shore; a mem¬ 
ber of the committee which drew up Maryland’s protest against the 
Stamp Act, and until the colony became a state, was President of the 
Provincial Assembly. Since this body was in harmony with the patriots, 
and the Governor, Robert Eden, was not, Tilghman was practically the 
acting governor, and his estate, Rich Neck, the seat of government. 

The old residence is in good condition, and the new owner intends 
to make all necessary repairs, and live in it. 

Hermitage, in Queen Anne’s County, the birthplace of Matthew 
Tilghman, is still a show place, a large house, approached by a mile- 
long drive, with views of the Chester River. Land here was taken up 
in 1659 by the first Tilghman of this branch to come to America. 



442 Historic Houses of Early America ^5 


Another branch, descended from Richard Tilghman, a surgeon who 
came from England in 1622, furnished a Revolutionary rider, whose 
mission was to carry good news instead of warnings. 

Richard was a commissioner of the Province of Pennsylvania, ap¬ 
pointed by William Penn to settle the boundaries with the Indians at 
Fort Stanwix, in 1658. He was a member of the Governor’s Council, 
and later private secretary to Juliana, widow of the Proprietor. James, 
his son, married the daughter of Tench Francis, who came as a boy 
from Ireland to Talbot County, Maryland, there married a Miss Ot- 
well, and later removed to Philadelphia. 

James Tilghman had a plantation at Fansley, Maryland, and here 
his son Tench was born, in 1744. 

Tench was one of twelve children, and attended school in Easton, 
Maryland, then went into business in Philadelphia with his uncle, 
Tench Francis. He was a volunteer in what the Tories jeeringly called 
the u Ladies’ Light Infantry,” or the “ Silk Stockings,” a military or¬ 
ganization commanded by Captain Sharpe Dulany, while young Tilgh¬ 
man was a lieutenant. But although Tench’s father was a Tory, his 
brother Philemon in the British Navy, Tench was an ardent patriot, 
member of Washington’s staff, with that commander when he crossed 
the Delaware, and for a great part of his military career refused to 
accept any pay for his services. 

He married a Tilghman cousin, daughter of Matthew, but the 
wedding was postponed for several months, because of the serious ill¬ 
ness of Barrister Charles Carroll, who married a sister of Tilghman’s 
bride. 

Colonel Tench Tilghman’s ride has been less sung than that of 
Paul Revere, but while in one sense it may have been less important, 
since his mission was to carry good news, instead of to arouse the 
patriots, it is none the less noteworthy. He rode from Yorktown to 
Philadelphia with news of the surrender of Cornwallis, and certainly 
it was most important that this news should reach that city without 
delay. 

Tench Tilghman’s home at this time was Plinhimmon, on Town 



6 % Maryland and Her Mansions 


443 


Creek, Talbot County, but he was visiting his married daughter at 
Hope. 

He rode through the night at full speed, now and again stopping 
at a farmhouse on the way, knocking at the door, and arousing the in¬ 
mates from sleep. When they demanded in alarm what was the matter, 
he re-assured them: “ Cornwallis is taken! A fresh horse for the Con¬ 
gress.” When this was supplied, on he dashed. 

He “ lost one whole night’s run by the stupidity of the skipper, 
who got over Tangier shoals, and was a whole day crossing in a calm 
from Annapolis to Rock Hill,” as his report states. 

According to the familiar story, he arrived in Philadelphia in the 
night of October 27th, 1781, and went directly to the house of Thomas 
McKean, President of the Convention. Here he knocked repeatedly 
on the door, and so vehemently that the watchman was about to arrest 
him as a disturber of the peace when Tilghman told him the news. 
Then McKean appeared, and the watchman proclaimed the glad news 
throughout the city, by calling out, with the usual: “ All’s well! ” the 
additional “And Cornwallis is taken! ” The sleeping city awakened, 
there were impromptu illuminations and great rejoicings. 

A boy who since he was fourteen years old had been riding back 
and forth along the Lancaster Road with dispatches, and had cleverly 
evaded many British traps set for him, was in Philadelphia that night. 
As this youth, Christopher Wolf, sped away to carry the good news 
to his townspeople, he must have felt rewarded for the long, lonely 
and dangerous rides that he had taken. He arrived in Lancaster at a 
very early hour in the morning, and aroused the residents, as Tilghman 
had aroused the Philadelphia watchman and McKean. 

The fatigue of Tilghman’s journey in an open boat from York- 
town to Rock Hill, followed by the long horseback ride, at a time 
when he was suffering from malarial fever, confined him to his bed 
for several days, but one fancies that he did not greatly complain, hav¬ 
ing been privileged to bear such vitally important good news to the 
Congress. 

Many more old mansions of Maryland, even as many in other 



444 Historic Houses of Early America 


States, might be included did space permit. Of those whose omission 
may surprise, several, such as Rose Hill Manor, outside of Frederick, 
Maryland, the old Robinson house, near Wilmington, Delaware, the 
Franklin Palace, at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, have been mentioned 
in Early American Inns and Taverns , since they were not only his¬ 
toric mansions, but became inns, restaurants or taverns later in their 
histories. 













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Some Historic Families of South Carolina — Frampton Erroll Ellis. 
Atlanta, Ga., Foote & Davis Co., 1905 

Some Old Ipswich Houses — Rev. Thos Franklin Waters. The Salem Press, 
1898 

Story of an Interesting and Historic House in Gloucester, Massa¬ 
chusetts 

Story of Monticello — Mrs. Martin W. Littleton 
Story of Remembrance Sheldon — Transcribed from the original manu¬ 
script by Matilda S. Hyde. Deerfield, Mass., 1920 
Swett-Ilsley House in the Antient Town of Newbury — Society for 
the Preservation of New England Antiquities 
Three Judges, The — Israel P. Warren. New York, Warren & Wyman, 

1873 

Troy and Rensselaer County, New York — Rutherford Hayner. Lewis 
Historical Pub. Co., New York & Chicago, 1925 



452 


6^ Bibliography JS$9 


Unpublished History of Dartmouth Old Homes — Compiled by Henry 
C. Worth and Emma C. Austin 

Vassalls of New England, The — Edward Doubleday Harris. Albany, J. 
Munsell, 1862 

What to see in Marblehead — Sara S. Bartlett. Salem Press Co., 1907 
; Ye Old Fayerbanks House — Alvin Lincoln Jones. Boston, 1894 



6^ A Record of Historic Houses 

by Towns and States ^5 


Alphabetically under States are listed the houses mentioned in the text, those 
which are open to the public marked with an asterisk. 


CONNECTICUT 


Bethany 

Dayton 

Brooklyn 

Putnam 

Fairfield 

Deacon Bulkley 
Thaddeus Burr 
Greenwich 

♦Knapp or Putnam 
Groton 

Ebenezer Avery 
Mother Bailey 
Guilford 
Acadian 
♦Hyland 
Lee 

♦Old Stone or Whitfield 
Regicide cellar 
Comfort Starr 
Lebanon 

Gov. Trumbull 
♦War Office 
Litchfield 
Deming 


Litchfield ( continued ) 
Parsonage 
Sheldon 
Gov. Wolcott 
Lyme 

Thomas Lee 
Meriden 
♦Goffe 
Milford 

Stephen Stowe 
New Haven 
Jones 

♦Purdee’s Old Morris 
Pierpont 
New London 
Hempstead 
♦Huguenot 
♦Shaw 
Norwalk 

Gov. Fitch 
Saybrook 

Hezekiah Whittlesey 
Washington 

Red House 


453 




454 6 % Historic Houses by Towns and States 


Wethersfield 

♦Webb 

Windsor 

♦Ellsworth — Tyler 

Dover 

Eden Hill Farm 

Green, The 

Loockerman 

Ridgely 

Rodney 

Vining 

Woodburne 

(near) 

Foxhall Farm 
Kingston-upon-Hull 
Pleasanton Abbey 
Towne Point 

New Castle 

Amstel House 

Booth 

Dutch cottage 

Jacquette (near) 

Kensey Johns houses 

DELAWARE 

New Castle ( continued ) 

Mclntire 

Read 

Van Dyke houses 

Odessa 

Cantwell (near) 

Corbit 

McDonough — The Trap 
(near) 

♦Warner 

Port Penn 

Oldest 

Stewart 

Wilmington 

Cool Springs (near) 

Tatnall 

Tusculum 

West (site) 


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


Georgetown 

Tudor Place 

Washington 

Decatur 

Washington ( continued ) 

♦Granger — Arts Club 

♦Octagon 

♦White House 

St. Augustine 

FLORIDA 

St. Augustine ( continued ) 


Governor’s House — *P. O. Treasury Building (private resi¬ 
st. Francis Convent — Gero- dence) 

nimo Alvarez—^Oldest House 



Historic Houses by Towns and States 455 


Vincennes 

Bardstown (near) 

Louis Philippe 
Cynthiana 

Oldest house 
Harrodsburg 

’•'Lincoln cabin 
Lexington 
Ashland 

Brixham, Yora Corners 

McIntyre garrison house 
Kennebunk 
Barry 
Crediford 
Lord 

♦Snapdragon Inn 
Storer 


A nnafolis 
♦Brice 
Carrollton 
♦Carvel Hall — Gov. Paca’s 
♦Chase 
♦Hammond 
Scott 
Stewart 
Baltimore 

Carroll town house 
♦Homewood 
♦Mount Clare 


INDIANA 

♦Harrison 

KENTUCKY 

Lexington ( continued ) 
Chaumiere (near) 
Ellerslie (near) 

Gratz 

Thomas Hart 
Keeneland Farm (near) 
Latrobe 

Robert S. Todd 

MAINE 

Kittery Point 
Bray 

Lady Mary Pepperell 
Sir William Pepperell 
Portland 

♦Longfellow 
Wis cosset 

Marie Antoinette refuge 


Baltimore ( continued) 
near 

Belmont 

Doughregan Manor 
Hampton 
Whitehall 
Cambridge 

The Point 
Claiborne 

Rich Neck 
Croome (near) 

Mt. Airy 


MARYLAND 



456 Historic Houses by Towns and States ^5 


Easton (near) 
Anchorage 
♦Ashby 
Hope 

Myrtle Grove 
Otwell 

Pleasant Valley 
Wye 
Mattafany 
Calvert 


Princess Anne 

Samuel Chase 
Queen Anne's County, in 
Hermitage 
Secretary 

Warwick Fort Manor 
Town Creek , on 
Plinhimmon 


MASSACHUSETTS 


A cushnet 

Dr. Tobey 
A nnisquom 

Riggs 

Barnstable 

Lothrop — ♦Sturgis Library 
Beverly 
Balch 

♦Cabot (Beverly Historical So¬ 
ciety) 

Andrew Cabot (site) 

Elizabeth Cabot (site) 

George Cabot (site) 

Billerica 

♦Manning 

Boston 

John Quincy Adams (site) Hotel 
Touraine 
Capen 

Clark — Frankland (site) 
Ebenezer Hancock (site) 

Cotton Mather (site) 

Josiah Quincy 
♦Paul Revere 
Leonard Vassall 


Cambridge 

Elmwood (Lowell) 
♦Longfellow 
Canton 

John Fenna 
Central Village 

Restcome Potter 
Chatham 

Oldest house (Historical Society) 
Concord 

♦Art Association 

♦Antiquarian Society (Reuben 
Brown) 

Blockhouse (site) 

D.A.R. House 
R. W. Emerson 
Jones 

Old Manse 

Orchard 

Wayside 

Dartmouth (near) 

Increase Allen’s 
Round Hill Farm 
Dedham 

♦Fayerbanks 



Historic Houses by Towns and States 457 


Deerfield 

Barnard — Dickinson 
Bartholomew — Belding — 
Stebbins 

Beaman — Bunker — Allen 
Carter — Allen — Barnard — 
Willard — The Manse 
Henry Dickinson 
Frary 
Nims 

Pink House 
Sheldon — Hoyt 
Ensign Sheldon (doorway) 
♦Williams 
Dorchester 
Pierce 
Duxbury 
♦Alden 
Gloucester 

♦Sargent — Murray — Gilman 
Green Harbor 
♦Winslow 
Haverhill 

Hannah Dustin 
♦Whittier 
Hingham 

Garrison 
Gen. Lincoln 
Rev. Daniel Shute 
Wampatuck Club 
♦Willard 
Hyannis 
♦Library 
Ifswich 

Appleton 
Nathaniel Wade 


Ipswich ( continued ) 

♦Whipple 

♦Ye Olde Burnham — Harte — 
Lord 
Kingston 

♦Gov. Bradford 
Gen. John Thomas 
Willett 
Lexington 

♦Hancock — Clark 
Jonathan Harrington (two) 
Munro 
Marblehead 

Parson Barnard 
Elbridge Gerry 
Gen. Glover 
Skipper Ireson 
♦King Hooper 
Lafayette 
Col. Jeremiah Lee 
Old Brig 
Azor Orne 
Scott 
Marshfield 

Webster office 
Marthas Vineyard 
Daggett —Nye 
♦East Chop Inn 
Great House 
Oliver Linton 
Mayhew — Vincent 
Capt. Nathan Smith 
Medford 

Craddock (The Fort) 

Garrison 
Isaac Hall 



45^ Historic Houses by Towns and States 


Medford. ( continued ) 

♦Royall Mansion 
.Nantucket 

♦Jethro Coffin 
Josiah Coffin 
Caleb & Joseph Gardner 
♦Maria Mitchell 
New Bedford 
Arnold 
East 

♦Howland (doorway) 

Newbury 

Gov. Dummer 
♦Swett-Ilsley 
Newbury fort 
♦Garrison 
North Plymouth 
William Cross 
North Truro 

Highland Light farmhouse 
Pigeon Cove 
♦The Castle 
Gott 

♦Mammy’s Old Tavern (Bab- 
son) 

Witch 

Plymouth 

♦Antiquarian 
♦Harlow 
♦Howland 
♦Tabitha Plaskett 
Edward Winslow 
John Winslow 
Provincetown 
♦Hooked Rug 
Lothrop — Hall 
♦Snug Harbor 


Quincy 

♦Dorothy Q. 

Leonard Vassall — Adams 
Quincy-A dams 

♦Adams houses (two) 

Salem 

Andrew — Safford 
Assembly 
Cabot — Endicott 
Cook — Oliver 

Benj. Crowninshield (Home for 
Aged & Destitute Women) 
Derby 

Downing (site) Essex Museum 
Gardner — White 
♦Dr. Grimshaw (doorway) 
♦Hathaway 

Hawthorne’s birthplace 
♦House of the Seven Gables 
Pickering 
♦Peirce — Nichols 
♦Retire Becket 
Ruck (site) 

♦Ward 

Josiah Ward (site) 

♦Witch 

South Duxbury 

Myles Standish 
Tofs field 

♦Parson Capen 
Uffer Medford 
Gov. Brooks 
Williamstown 

Nehemiah Smedley 
Woburn 

Baldwin 



6?^ Historic Houses by Towns and States 459 


NEW HAMPSHIRE 


Amherst 

Horace Greeley birthplace 
Dover 

♦Damme garrison 
Exeter 

Councillor Gilman 
♦Gov. Gilman (Cincinnati So¬ 
ciety) 

Nathaniel Gilman 
Janvrin garrison house (near) 
Franklin 

Daniel Webster birthplace 
Haverhill 

Gov. Page 


New Castle 

Gen. Jaffray 
Portsmouth 
♦Aldrich 
Jackson 

♦Hon. Woodbury Langdon (Hotel 
Rockingham) 

♦Moffet — Ladd 
Portsmouth Athletic Club 
♦Purcell — Historical Association 
Warner 

Winslow — Pierce 
Gov. Benning Wentworth 


Belcher — Elizabeth 
Bonnell 
Boudinot 
♦Carteret Arms 
Chateau 
De Hart 
Hetfield 
Liberty Hall 
St. John’s Parsonage 
Scott 

Morristown 

♦Ford 


NEW JERSEY 

Princeton 

Morven 

Tusculum 

Trenton 

Bloomsbury 
Bow Hill 
Douglass 
Hermitage 
Stille (site) 


NEW MEXICO 


Santa Fe 

♦First Apartment House in the 
U. S. 


Santa Fe ( continued X 
♦Governors’ Palace 
Tiguez 



4 - 6 o Historic Houses by Towns and States ^5 


NEW YORK 


Albany 

♦Schuyler Mansion 
Van Rensselaer manor 
Brooklyn 
Bennett 
♦LefFerts 
Lott houses 
Lady Deborah Moody 
Schenck houses 
Van Brunt 
Van Sicklen 
Easthomfton 
Payne 
Fishkill 

Wharton 
Gardiner’s Island 
Lion Gardiner 
Huntington, L. I. 

Walt Whitman 
Jamaica 

Rufus King 
Katonah (near) 

John Jay 
Kingston 
♦Senate 
Van Steenberg 
Newburgh 

♦Headquarters 
New Paltx 
Du Bois 
Frere 


New Paltz ( continued) 

A. Hasbrouck 

*J. Hasbrouck — Memorial 
♦Library 
New York City 
♦Claremont 

♦De Lancey — Fraunces Tavern 
♦Grade 
Grange 
♦Jumel 
♦Smith 

♦Van Cortlandt 
Pelham 
Pell 

Pine Plains 

Graham houses 
Rensselaer 

Fort Crailo 
Roslyn, L. I. 

Wm. Cullen Bryant 
Shelter Island 
Sylvester 
Staten Island 

Billop — Conference 
Tarry town 

Philipse Manor 
Tivoli (near) 

Arryl (ruins) 

Clermont 

Yonkers 

♦Manor Hall 


PENNSYLVANIA 


Blue Bell (near) 
Dawesfield 


Carlisle 

Watts 



Historic Houses by Towns and States 461 


Fortside 

Hope Lodge 
Germantown 

Grumblethorp 
♦Johnson (Woman’s Club) 
Morris 
Rittenhouse 
Wyck 

Paoli (near) 

Waynesborough 
Philadelphia 
♦Belmont 
♦Laurel Hill 
Lewis 
Morris 

^Morris in Fairmount Park 
>■/♦ Mount Pleasant 
♦Penn 


Philadelphia ( continued ) 

♦Ross 
♦Solitude 
Sweet Brier 
Phoenixville 

Moore Hall 
Stenton 

♦Stenton Mansion 
Swarthmore 
West 

Valley Forge 
♦Headquarters 

Mad Anthony Wayne’s Head¬ 
quarters 
Mount Joy 

Willow Grove (near) 

Graeme Park 


RHODE ISLAND 


Newport 

♦Hazard — Wanton — Ward — 
Howard 
Pawtucket 
♦Daggett 
Providence 

John Brown 

John Carter Brown — Night- 


Providence ( continued ) 

ingale — Nicholas Brown 
Joseph Brown (Providence 
Nat’l Bank) 

♦Esek Hopkins 
Stephen Hopkins 
Thomas P. Ives 
♦Betsey Williams 


Beaufort 

Old fortified 
Tusfarora Jack’s 
Charleston 
Alston 
Bennett 


SOUTH CAROLINA 

Charleston ( continued ) 

♦Miles Brewton 
Robert Brewton 
Dale 

Judge Thomas Heyward 
Horry 



462 Historic Houses by Towns and States ^§5 


Charleston ( continued ) 
Wm. E. Huger 

Izard 

Manigault 

Jacob Motte 

Nicholson 

Charleston ( continued ) 

Fairlawn 
♦Fenwick Castle 

Hampton 

Lewisfield 

Medway 


♦The Patio, site of 1st Miles ♦Middleton Gardens 


Brewton 

Mulberry Castle 

Charles Pinckney 
Pringle v" 

Col. William Rhett 

Oaks, The 

Otranto 

Yeamans Hall 


Dictator Rutledge (Mayor Clarendon (near) 

Rhett) Manning’s Folly 


Tidy man 

Tradd (site) 
Washington 

Williams 

near 

Belvidere 

Comingtee 

Crowfield 

Drayton Hall 

Elms, The 

Exeter 

Fairfield 

Columbia (near) 

Fort Granby 

Parris Island 

Charlesfort 

Sheldon 

Gen. Bull’s 

Stateburg (near) 

Ruins, The 

Wedgefield (near) 

Home Place (site) 

Melrose 

Midway (site) 

Nashville 

TENNESSEE 

♦Hermitage 

Fairfax 

Webster 

Poultney 

Pine Tree 

VERMONT 

Rutland 

Jenkins 

John Murray — Putnam 



Historic Houses by Towns and States 463 


VIRGINIA 


A lexandrta 

♦Carlyle — Braddock 
Ramsay 

Charlotte County 
Red Hill 
C harlottesville 
The Farm 

Jowett’s “ Swan Tavern ” — 
Red Lands Club 

near 

Belvoir 
Castalia 
Castle Hill 
Cismont 
Clover Fields 
Cobham Park 

Cuckoo Tavern — (private resi¬ 
dence) 

Edgehill 
Maxfield 
♦Monticello v* 

Shadwell 
Clark County 
Carter Hall 
Culpeffer (near) 

Salubria 

Ditchley (on Chesapeake Bay) 
Fredericksburg 
Charles Dick 
Federal Hill 
Glassel 
Hazel Hill 
♦Kenmore 

Matthew Fontaine Maury 


Fredericksburg ( continued ) 

Mercer’s apothecary shop 
♦President Monroe 
Paul 

♦Rising Sun 
Sentry Box 
Stevenson 

♦Mary Washington 
near 

Belmont 
Brompton 
Chatham 
Ferry Farm 
Sabine Hall 
Travellers’ Rest 
Willis Hill 
Gray > s Creek (near) 

Smith Fort Farm 
Ivy (near) 

Locust Hill 
Jamestown 

Philip Ludwell’s (foundations) 

near 

Green Springs (ruins) 

King George County 
Marmion 
Orange County 
Montpelier 
Petersburg 

Col. John Bannister 
Bollingbroke 
Center Hill 
Dunn’s Hill 
Folly Castle 




464 Historic Houses by Towns and States 


Petersburg ( continued ) 

Peter Jones’ Trading Station 
Violet Bank 

near 

Appomatox 

Cawson’s 

Cobb’s 

Kippax 

Richmond 

♦Ege (Poe Memorial) 

Governor’s Mansion 
♦Marshall 

♦White House of the Confederacy 
near 

Ampthill 
Berkeley 
Brandon 
Curie’s Neck 
Flower de Hundred 
Shirley 

Upper Brandon 
Westover 1 —' 

Wilton 
Red Hill 
Roanoke 
Rosewell 
Salisbury 

Patrick Henry’s rented home 


Scotchtonm 
Smith field (near) 

Bacon’s Castle 
Wakefield 

Westmoreland County 
Chantilly 
Williamsburg 
Bassett Hall 
Blair 

Gov. Dinwiddie 
Galt 

Gov. John Page 

Governor’s Palace (site) 

Paradise 

President’s 

Randolph 

Secretary’s 

♦Six Chimney Lot (kitchen) 
Tazewell Hall 
St. George Tucker 
♦Wythe 
near 

Carter’s Grove 
Yorktown 
Nelson 

Sessions — Shields 

near 

Moore Farm 


WEST VIRGINIA 


Charles Town (near) 
Claymont Court 


Charles Town ( continued ) 
Hare wood 














































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